What are rare earths and why does everyone want them?

The Briefing Room

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.8 • 731 Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

President Trump has signed a minerals deal with Ukraine, which will give the US access to some of Ukraine’s natural resources. The US president also said he’d like to take over Greenland and even Canada. Why? Well one reason may well be the rare earths and critical minerals found there. Critical minerals are vital for almost every industry from the manufacturing of computers to fighter jets. But in recent years the rise of green technologies has been fuelling demand for minerals used to make batteries for electric cars and other renewable infrastructure. One country dominates the minerals market - China - which has repercussions for the rest of the world, including the US. David Aaronovitch and guests discuss what and where these minerals are, why everyone wants them and how the rest of the world can compete with China.

Guests:

Ellie Saklatvala, Head of Nonferrous Metal Pricing, Argus, a provider of market intelligence for the global commodity markets. Henry Sanderson, author of ‘Volt Rush, the Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green’ and Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute Sophia Kalantzakos, Global Distinguished Professor in Environmental Studies and Public Policy at New York University in Abu Dhabi and the author of 'China and the Geopolitics of Rare Earths' Olivia Lazard, a senior fellow affiliated with the think tank, Carnegie Europe and Berggruen Institute

Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Caroline Bayley, Nathan Gower and Kirsteen Knight Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Sound engineer: David Crackles Editor: Richard Vadon

Transcript

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0:00.0	Last month, in a strange byproduct of the Ukraine war, the US and Ukraine signed a deal
0:10.0	giving the US access to that country's critical minerals and rare earths. Apparently, President
0:16.4	Trump's unusually keen interest in Greenland and Canada, also has a rare earth component.
0:22.9	Put bluntly, this stuff is needed for a lot of modern tech, and China has cornered the market,
0:28.5	which strategically is not a welcome development.
0:32.0	So what are rare earths? Where are they?
0:35.7	And can the rest of the world compete with the Chinese?
0:39.4	Step into the briefing room and together we'll find out.
0:46.8	First, what are these rare earths and minerals? I'm joined by Eli Sacklet Vala,
0:52.6	whose head of non-ferrous metal pricing at Argus,
0:55.4	a provider of market intelligence for the global commodity markets.
1:00.0	Any Sacklapha, let's talk about rare earths first.
1:03.2	What are they?
1:04.2	So rare earths refers to 17 specific minerals or elements.
1:10.1	If you were to look at the periodic table, you'd find them
1:12.5	largely grouped together. They comprise the lanthanide series plus itrium and scandium. So it's a
1:18.9	group of elements that are chemically similar in properties, although they perform a very diverse
1:24.8	range of functions. And we also tend to find them geologically grouped
1:28.4	together in the ground. And they're used for all sorts of things. They've become quite famous because
1:33.0	we can make very strong magnets out of them, which go into electric vehicles and offshore wind turbines,
1:39.0	but they also have loads of other uses in electronics, for example, lots of military applications, and then
1:46.1	quite traditional uses like glassmaking and ceramics and so on. So it's a really diverse group of
	...

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