Quad group to end China’s monopoly in Rare Earth Material – Burning Issues – Free PDF

Huge Dependence of USA on China

• There are 17 strategic elements vital for the production of anything ranging from laptops, electric car batteries to missile guiding systems and lasers.
• “There are 0.15 grams of palladium (a rare earth metal) in an iPhone, 472 kilograms of combined rare earth in an F-35 fighter jet and four tonnes in a Virginia-class submarine,”

Clearly, China has monopoly

• So far China has exercised a virtual monopoly on processing rare earth elements. Amid deteriorating relations with the United States, Beijing has signalled that Washington may be denied supply of the minerals produced in China.

QUAD Coming together to break Monopoly

• In a bid to break the Chinese monopoly on processing rare earth elements, the Quad comprising of India, Japan, Australia and the United States are working together and pooling resources to rapidly build collective self-reliance in the sector.

All Eyes on Australia

• It is believed that Australia, which is the second-largest producer of rare elements is the fulcrum that can liberate the region’s democracies and like-minded countries from arm twisting by communist China.

• Four Australian companies have advanced rare earth projects. Three of them are in Australia, while the fourth is located in Tanzania.
• Their focus is to ferret neodymium-praseodymium–a combination of rare-earth metals, which imparts high strength permanent magnets.
• These super-magnets are extensively used in electric vehicle engines.

India-Aus Critical Minerals Deal

• Australia, in June, had inked a preliminary agreement for supplying critical minerals to push India’s transition to a new energy economy.
• Australian Resources Minister Keith Pitt said that Canberra could become India’s top supplier of cobalt and zircon.
• Antimony, lithium, rare earth and tantalum could also be added.

Quad Reliant Supply Chain

• Pitt pointed to the allure of New Delhi’s ‘Make in India’ programme, and its goal of moving to full electric mobility by 2030–a policy shift that would power India’s copious demand for critical minerals.

USA-Aus Rare Earth Mineral Deal

• Australia has also worked out a rare earth elements deal with the US, the Quad’s most powerful partner.
• The Australian rare earth miner Lynas would process the mined minerals in a facility in Texas, in partnership with the Pentagon.

Japan-Aus Rare Earth Partnership goes back ages

• Australia’s partnership with Japan in the domain of the rare earth is already well established, following Tokyo’s spat with Beijing over Senkaku islands.
• Fearing that its high-tech industries could be compromised, the Japanese decided to invest in Mount Weld– a mountain and a mine site in Western Australia, with one of the richest major rare-earth deposits in the world

• Earlier this month trade ministers of Japan, India and Australia agreed to hammer out details of a new supply chain network, which is likely to include rare earth elements, by the end of the year.

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