Hello, welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service.

I'm Suran Janathowari.

Today, Australia's gamble to take on China's dominance of rare earths.

Rare earth elements power everything from computer chips to wind turbines.

But it's an industry that is heavily dominated by China, which is...

...report reportedly tightening its grip

on critical minerals it supplies to Western defence companies.

Earlier this year, China curbed global access to rare earths and to the permanent magnets

they go into. In part, it was a response to American tariffs and other global trade tensions.

Producers of cars, defence systems and medical equipment around the world were left scrambling,

raising questions about why China controls the supply of these critical minerals and what can be done about it.

We can either sit back and do nothing about that and let that remain the case or we can step up to take on

the responsibility to develop a rare earth industry here.

We'll hear from the man who heads the rare earth division of an Australian mining company

that's hoping to become an alternative source of these minerals.

Rare earths are vital in all elements of the technological developments that our globe is

going through right now, whether it be electrification through electric vehicles, power generation

through wind turbines and manufacturing technology and robotics.

We'll hear more about why Canberra is loaning out money to fund the industry and what challenges lie ahead as Australia vies to win the rare earth's race.

There is no metal industry that is completely clean.

So unfortunately, it's a matter of picking your poison sometimes, as they say.

That's all coming up in today's Business Daily.

...