RE: Hypromag16 May 2021 14:21
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Why China’s stranglehold on rare minerals could cost us the earth
After ‘chipageddon’, attention is turning to crucial raw materials used in cars and turbines. Britain is racing to wean itself off imports
Jamie Nimmo
Sunday May 16 2021, 12.01am, The Sunday Times
Asia
China
China mines 60 per cent of the world’s rare earths
China mines 60 per cent of the world’s rare earths
JIE ZHAO/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES
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Premier League footballers have long been attracted to flash, powerful Bentley cars. But they could soon be driving around in second-hand motors — at least partly.
The British luxury marque is part of a three-year study involving Birmingham University and one of its spin-outs, Hypromag. It is looking at recycling rare earth magnets from old computer hard disks that would otherwise be thrown on the scrapheap. They are a component in new electric and hybrid cars — whose batteries are powered by lithium, but which use rare earth magnets in motors, power steering and electric windows.
The project — which uses hydrogen to recycle the magnets, a process pioneered by one of Hypromag’s founding directors, and Birmingham University emeritus professor, Rex Harris — is not just a green experiment. It forms part of Britain’s drive to create its own supply of rare earths and lessen its reliance on China, the main provider of 17 minerals used for magnets in electric cars, medical devices, power tools, smartphones and wind turbines.
President Xi Jinping has intimated that China could use its position for leverage
ALAMY
“We’re building a supply chain that you could feed primary or secondary material into,” said Allan Walton, another founding director of Hypromag. “For magnets, it’s far quicker to get a supply chain running for recycled material than it is from a new mine.”
Rare earths are extracted from the ground and shipped to facilities that separate them. They are split into oxides, metals and magnets. It is a more complex and expensive process than the usual mining of common minerals such as iron ore.
Most rare earths need to be shipped to China for processing. Even missile systems and other military equipment in the UK and US use rare earth magnets mostly sourced from China.
Tensions between the US and China have heightened concerns that Beijing could weaponise rare earths and limit exports to its rivals’ disadvantage. This comes on top of concerns over a global shortage of semiconductors, dubbed “chipageddon”, which is hitting production of cars and smartphones.
A week after the US blacklisted Chinese telecoms giant Huawei in 2019, President Xi Jinping visited a rare earths processing plant in Jiangxi and highlighted the importance of rare earths in global supply chains. His statement was widely viewed as a thinly veiled threat that China could turn off the taps if further antagonised.
Britain is hatching its own plans in case that ha
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