Hello, I'm Jonathan Josephs, and this is Business Daily on the BBC World Service,

where all this week we're looking at the critical minerals that shape our modern world.

Today, I'm in the French port town of La Rochelle for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look

at the biggest rare earth's metal processing plant outside of China.

It's where the rocks that are dug out of the ground and their recycled remains

are attacked with chemicals and extreme heat to be transformed into the elements we rely on

for our computers, phones, electric vehicles and more.

Much of that is in the form of permanent magnets.

It's basically like if you have a multi-fruit juice with orange juice, apple juice, pineapple juice.

The objective of the liquid separation unit will be to separate apple juice on one side,

orange juice on the other side, and so on.

Demand for these metals is surging, with billions of dollars being invested in mining, refining

and even recycling.

The best way to manage it is to use as much as possible recycled material, because those

are already in Europe.

And instead of sending back those material to China or to other regions, let's keep them and recycle the material.

But how can a plant like this really compete in an industry hugely controlled by China?

China is today dominant on this industry, but all the things we are doing here is to develop the capacity here in France.

It's very important for the European economy because we have to build a sovereign and resilient

economy.

The front line of Europe's fight for rare earth metals.

That's Business Daily from the BBC World Service.

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