earths

China has responded to US tariffs attacking one of its weak points: rare earths

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As expected, the Chinese government has not been left with a crossed arms before The tariffs prepared by the USA. Just 24 hours after Donald Trump releases the taxes to be applied to The importation of most products Coming from abroad, the administration led by Xi Jinping has responded. And he has done it with forcefulness. On April 10 China will impose a 34% tariff to all imports from the US. The choice of that day is not casual. And is that the tariffs approved by the Donald Trump administration will take effect on April 9. Just a day before. Presumably the Chinese government has chosen to keep a few days of margin in the hope of reaching an agreement with its American counterpart and relax a little tension. China has decided to press the US more than ever with rare earths China’s response to the US does not only go through new tariffs; He has also chosen to suspend the import licenses of the products belonging to six US companies, as well as imposing more controls on the export of some rare earths. This is not at all the first time that the Xi Jinping government decides to pressure the US and its allies establishing limitations to the export of these raw materials. In fact, on December 21, 2023 the Chinese administration decided to restrict export of some of its rare earth processing technologies, shaping a maneuver that pursues defend their strategic interests in full confrontation with the US and its allies. And at the beginning of December 2024 He chose to prohibit The export of critical minerals to the US. On December 21, 2023, the Chinese administration decided to restrict the export of some of its rare earth processing technologies Among them are three essential chemical elements for the semiconductor industry (Gallium, Germanio and Antimony), as well as some materials that are characterized by their extreme hardness, and which, therefore, can be used for military applications. An important note before moving forward: Rare earths are a real treasure. To this peculiar group of chemical elements belong some metals as elusive and with names as suggestive as neodymium, promised, gadolinium, ititrium or scandio, among others. Some of them are relatively scarce, and, in addition, they are not usually found purely in nature, but what makes them so special are their physicochemical properties. Its characteristics are beyond the reach of the other elements of the periodic table, which has caused that during the last decades they are consolidated as A very valuable resource In numerous industries, especially in those of semiconductors, electronics and renewable energies. This is the reason why rare earths They are so important to the US. We still do not know what reach the new export controls of the rare earths that the Ministry of Commerce of China has just approved, but as soon as we have more information we will include it in this article. The cards are on the table. The US and China still have five days ahead to reach an agreement before their new taxes enter into force. We will see if they are really willing to relax the tension. Even if it’s just a bit. Image | Lio voo More information | CN Wire In Xataka | The US will not be able to contain the technological development of China. Experts from the chips industry forecast it

The US believes to have a “treasure” with the rare earths of Ukraine. Everything is born from a outdated Soviet report 50 years ago

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Today, Friday, February 28, Presidents Volodymir Zelensky and Donald Trump They will meet in Washington to discuss and sign the agreement on the mineral resources of Ukraine. This alliance will give the United States a control over the country’s natural resources, a measure that Trump has promoted These last days. However, estimates on this aspect are based on reports of the former USSR for more than 50 years ago. The famous “rare earths”. I think we have heard of the “rare earths” these days and, in this same medium, We have deepened the subject Exposing the arguments of two energy experts, which have confirmed that talking about “rare earths” is a mistake. However, the global S&P medium He has been able to demonstrate Where does that speculation come from, it has only had to dust off some old documents of the former Soviet Union. More than 50 years ago. The geological report of the Soviet era that is using Ukraine to evaluate its “rare earth” deposits focuses on an exploration made between 1960 and 1990. It is true that the technology of the moment and the methods were very different from the current ones. According to experts Consulted by S&P Globalthe data used to estimate mineral resources have not been updated since the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. In addition, some of the deposits are in areas of difficult access and require more advanced technologies for extraction, as is the case of Novopoltavske, located in the Zaporizhia region, due to hydrogeological mining conditions. This mine, according to the report, contains phosphates, rare earths and niobium. On the other hand, currently, you cannot access the territories occupied by Russia, as in the Donetsk region, where the Azovske and Mazurivske quarries are located. Were these deposits exploited in the USSR? According to the report with more than five decades, they knew about them and explored them, but were not completely exploited on a large scale. The impediments went through a lack of structure, the complexity to access the deposits and technological limitations of the time. After the dissolution of the USSR, the mining projects in the Ukraine area stagnated and no attempted development was made in a postsoviet era. What will happen today? United States and Ukraine They will sign a treaty For a Ukraine reconstruction fund, partially financed with the income of its mineral reserves. Ukraine has agreed to contribute 50% of its future income derived from critical mineral mining such as cobalt, lithium, titanium and rare earths. In return, United States It would help develop The mining infrastructure necessary to extract these resources, but analysts consider that real benefits could take many years to materialize. In addition, the US will be co -owner of the Fund to the extent allowed by its legislation and promises long -term financial commitment, but the agreement It does not specify amounts, deadlines or details about the management of the fund, which generates uncertainty about its real implementation. However, there is a key fact that has been overlooked: currently, Ukraine does not produce rare earths at the commercial level. Although it has reservations, the infrastructure necessary to extract them still does not exist. According to the United States Geological Service, Ukraine has Scandio depositsone of the 17 elements of rare earths, but its large -scale extraction has not begun. Is it really so essential for the US? We have already told. On the one hand, Trump seeks to lead global mineral resources and impose himself on China. On the other hand, analysts They have mentioned that Ukraine should produce 20% of the world’s rare land for more than 150 years to reach the 500,000 million dollars of value that Trump has mentioned. In addition, as indicated in the report, the value of deposits may not justify the investment in its extraction, which makes Trump’s interest not completely clear from an economic perspective. To this is added the lack of clarity On the previous help of the US: Trump has mentioned between 300,000 and 350,000 million dollars, but the Kiel Institute has estimated that the real figure is 119,000 million. It should be remembered that Ukraine has a notable production of other strategic minerals. Before the war, Galio produced, used in semiconductors and biomedical applications, and contributed 2% of the world’s bromine production, essential in flame retarders. In addition, it produced ilmenite, a key mineral concentrate for obtaining titanium, a metal with military applications. However, the war has stopped the production of manganese and alumina, fundamental for the manufacture of steel and aluminum. And about the occupied territory? Access to mineral deposits in territory occupied by Russia depends on an eventual resolution of the conflict, adding another layer of uncertainty to the agreement. It also follows a key issue in the air: Zelensky sought to include security guarantees for Ukraine, but The agreement does not explicitly mention them. Although the text says that the US will support “Ukraine efforts to obtain security guarantees,” does not establish specific commitments or defense mechanisms in case of aggression. Without them, the real impact of the treaty remains uncertain. Trump and Putin. All this conflict is even more complicated if we add the layer of the relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, who have talked again, and the Russian leader even has offered preferential access to the natural resources of your country, showing willing to negotiate the end of the conflict. Despite these “advances”, the possible concessions that Trump could accept, such as Ukraine renounces NATO, they worry both kyiv and Europe. They fear that these agreements can make safety in the region even more unstable. And the cake wid. The agreement Mention explicitly That future negotiations on the fund should avoid conflicts with the process of adhesion of Ukraine to the European Union, a striking point given Washington’s growing antagonism towards Brussels. However, Zelensky wants to avoid that the agreement interferes with its ambitions in European integration. Everything remains to be seen at today’s meeting. Image … Read more

How worried we should be because the earth’s crust is cracking

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The geography of India is very influenced by the tectonic plate associated with this subcontinent. This is remarkable in places like the Himalayas, the result of the clash between this plate and the Eurasian. However, dynamics change and plates can disintegrate. Horizontal cut. A New hypothesis On the interaction between tectonic plates, it could yield new doubts about the geological process that gave the Himalayan mountain range the highest peaks in the world. It would be an interaction never designed before: the horizontal break of a tectonic plate. The clash of an era. The mountain range between the heart of the Asian continent and the Indian subcontinent was formed between 40 and 50 million years ago when the Indian continental plate crashed into the Eurasian plate. The accumulation of the volume of these two masses of land implied that the earth’s crust was becoming thicker in this region, creating a colossal mountain range. This is a still unfinished process since the Indian plaque continues if it derives north, accumulating more mass and raising even more summits such as Everest. The mountain range grows at the rate of one centimeter per year. The subduction of the plate. So far the dominant hypothesis about what was happening underground in that border region contemplated the idea that the Indian plaque was undergoing a subduction process. That is, the Indian plaque was immersing under the Euroasyathic. At the same time, the Eurasian plate is transformed, folding and increasing in thickness, generating a region where the earth’s crust is more bulky. The new hypothesis Contemplate a different scenario. A new hypothesis. In it, part of the Indian plaque would be suffering a subduction process, but not all. As a knife cutting a bread bar to prepare a snack, the eurasian plate would be cutting in two, horizontallythe Indian plaque. This would imply that it would be part of the latter that would also be in the superficial zone, wrapping the Eurasian plate. Those responsible for this idea presented their defense at the conference of the American Geophysical Union and Through an article In the repository Ess Open Archive. Two ways to break. The rupture of a tectonic plaque is not a phenomenon at all strange. An example We can find it in Africa and its tectonic plate. The African continent as we know it will disappear in a few million years when a fracture divides it by two throughout a North-South Axis that will separate the easternmost area from the continent from the rest of Africa. This is the conventional rupture that allows tectonic plates to reorganize thereby causing continental drift. A drift that still keep many secrets That we are just beginning to discover. In Xataka | We just found the remains of a tectonic plate under the Pacific. And they shouldn’t be there In Xataka | How the Andes became so great in such a short time had always been a mystery. Until now Image | POT *An earlier version of this article was published in February 2024

A startup claims to have the weapon to end China’s monopoly on rare earths: hard drives

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In the technological era and Energy transition to renewables and the electric car In which we are, the Rare earth They have become the most valuable currency. This set of elements has become essential for many industries, but there is a problem: China dominates both mining and, above all, Rare Earth Metals Productionand he does not hesitate to use them as a throwing weapon in the Technological and Commercial War in which we are. While west Decide which are the next steps In the search for the gold of the 21st century, there are already those who work to obtain rare earth elements from wherever it is thanks to recycling. And that hard drive that has been in the drawer for years is a treasure. ‘Chrysistunity’. “Rare earth” is the name with which we call a group of 17 minerals that are used to manufacture components of electric car batteries, precision medical instruments, speakers or elements of wind turbines, among many other applications in virtually all sectors. Taking them out of the earth is not as much problem as their refining, since it is a process that does not get along with Western pollution restrictions. That is why we were delegating this task to China and, now, the Asian giant dominates practically 90% of production. So important are that the country usually uses the export of rare earth metals when it receives a new western commercial blow and even in the Ukraine War we have seen Trump condition US support to the supply of rare earth. But before each crisis, there is an opportunity. Old hard drives. In the absence of being able to produce them, why not get those elements through recycling? With the plastic we do not do it very well, but with other elements, and in the case of rare earths, it is something that can work. That is precisely what the company has proposed Hypromaga startup founded by personnel from the Metallurgy and Materials School of the University of Birmingham that, as we read in Financial Timeshas focused on the recycling of hard drives. These components once dominated our PCs and, although they remain of great value as external discs and, above all, as components for NAS systems, they have gradually been separated by much faster SSDs and that have been lowering price. And these hard drives have some components that are manufactured thanks to rare earth elements, such as magnets that allow their operation. Recycling. Gavin MUDD is the director of the Critical Mineral Intelligence Center of the United Kingdom and comments that the country imports between 5,000 and 10,000 tons of rare earth magnets every year in the form of finished products and components, but only 1% of that figure Recycle. He affirms that it is not an isolated case and that it is an amount similar to that of other industrialized nations. “We need to consider future domestic production, and that leads us to consider recycling,” he says. And that is where Hypromag technology comes into play. They claim that their technique allows them to extract the magnets that contain rare earths, which weigh between 10% and 15% of the hard disk itself, and obtain the elements sought. To do this, they have a great drum that they fill with even a ton of waste at the same time and, after closing the hermetic doors, introduce pure hydrogen inside. Then, hydrogen unstals enter the fissures of the magnets, causing them to break and separate them from the surrounding material. After this process, which lasts between four and eight hours, a powder composed mainly of the ingredients of the magnet – the neodymium – falls to the bottom of the container, while other elements such as steel, nickel and aluminum are separated and also can also be recycle. Subsequently, they grind the sifted material and an alloy occurs that can become a magnet again. Different approaches. There is another company that is in garlic and that has also spoken with Financial Times with a tone of competition that, in the end, is the one that can advance the industry of rare earth recycling. This company is called Material Cyclic And he affirms that his method is better than that of “magnet to magnet” because he allowed to crumble each component of the elements instead of separating magnets, on the one hand, iron and steel on the other. Ahmad Ghahreman is the executive director of this company and affirms that its approach allows companies to use the rare lands as they want, not only as magnets. And he compared the two approaches with the recycling metaphor of a pizza: “When recycles pizza with our technology, raisins from flour pizza, salt, pepper and all other ingredients. With the other, pass from pizza to the dough. ” An ambitious patch. Despite competitiveness in his words, Ghahreman considers that both methods are valid and “profitable.” In 2024 they produced 100 tons of rare earth oxides, but they hope to reach 600 tons for the end of this year. In addition, they have plans to open another plant in the United States with a capacity of 1,200 tons per year and have plans to open facilities in Canada and Europe in 2028. Hypromag, on the other hand, hopes to produce between 25 and 30 tons per year in its first phase, but with extension plans to 350 tons thanks to a new plant in Germany and another 1,000 tons of annual alloys with a projected plant in Texas. They are less concrete plans, but the objective of both companies is the same. Clue. Allan Walton, the founder of Hypromag, comments that this technology “is a way of extracting large amounts of rare earths and creating a domestic supply,” and the truth is that the recycling of rare earths is something that has been speaking for years, but It was always a challenge. And it is something that is being sought in various parts of the world. For example, … Read more

Trump has determined to obtain a piece of the rare earths of Ukraine. The only problem is that they may not exist

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Trump has begun this new legislature under an idea of ​​appropriating everything that can get an economic revenue and is not under his jurisdiction. It started with Greenland And now he wants to do it with Ukraine, but as happened with the first, in the Eastern country he will not find anything he thinks. Short. Donald Trump has declared that Ukraine has vast reserves of rare earths, but is far from reality. In fact, This statement is disassembled with the American geological service that does not include the East country as a significant deposit holder of these minerals. But why this obsession? As soon as he assumes the position as president, Trump He established that he wanted to “buy” Greenland as a strategic zone within the geopolitical framework and for its mineral wealth, which according to energy experts Javier Blas and Richard Milne It was not as the current president of the United States states, despite being an area with a large extension capacity. However, all this obsession behind rare earths is to ensure access to strategic resources that, for the most part, They are dominated by China. Control of these resources It is crucial For advanced technological applications and weapons production. Ensuring rare earth supply could have significant geopolitical implications, and in a context of rivalry with China, it could be part of its strategy to diversify the sources of these elements. And why now Ukraine? The analyst Javier Blas details it well for Bloombergsince the issue began when the Ukrainians presented to Trump a “Victoria Plan” highlighting the country’s mineral potential. This led Trump to speak publicly about the rare earths of Ukraine on several occasions, even mentioning a surprisingly high amount in dollars that the US could obtain from these resources, without basis on geological reality. The energy expert considers that the confusion probably arises from a misunderstanding or error of Trump by linking Ukraine with rare earths, when in reality the country does not have large deposits of these minerals. It could also have been confused with other mineral resources that Ukraine does, such as titanium and Gallium, which are valuable but not of the same strategic magnitude as rare earths. The misinformation is everywhere. However, it should be noted that this confusion by President Trump has also been fed by erroneous reports or conspiracy theories that circulate in the political sphere, which mention minerals such as lithium, beryllium or even uranium, which sometimes They are wrongly included in “rare earth” lists. In fact, this report It was published in December last year by the NATO Energy Security Excellence Center, a Autonomous organism Affiliated with the Military Alliance and that uses its name and logo. However, as Blas details, if these are the source used by Trump’s advisors, it is an important problem for global policy. The strategic point. Although Ukraine does not have vast mineral reserves, the country is in a very important geopolitical location, since it is a country of containment against Russia. For years, Ukrainian gas pipelines They have been essential For Russian gas supply to Europe, becoming a constant source of tension. The European Russian Gas Dependency has generated energy crisis and geopolitical disputeswhich further reinforces the relevance of Ukraine on the international board. In this context, the obsession with its mineral resources is not only an economic issue, but also an attempt to reinforce the geopolitical and energy security of the western bloc. Under threat. Before all this situation, in recent statements, Trump has attacked Zelensky calling it “dictator” And warning that, if he doesn’t act quickly, Ukraine could disappear. In addition, he has criticized the lack of previous agreements to avoid war and the high cost of the conflict for the United States. Within these recent statements, he also suggested that Europe should assume a majority of military spending, since it considers that war affects Europe more than the United States. Image | The White House and Unspash Xataka | Trump wants to apply tariffs of more than 25% to chips and that means one thing: much more expensive laptops

The treasure desired by all nations that China dominates with iron fist can be key in Ukraine: its rare earths

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Trump has had to get there An unexpected negotiating element In the war in Ukraine. Moscow and Kyiv have been waiting for the new administration with respect to the conflict for weeks. The answer, unexpected for the majority, is about to see if it is as it seems. If affirmative, the United States would enter fully into the contest to help Ukraine, although in exchange for very precious minerals with incalculable geopolitical value. Rare lands in exchange for support. Donald Trump’s recent statement on a possible agreement with Ukraine, in which The United States would receive rare minerals in exchange for military assistancehas shaken the geopolitical panorama and generated international mixed reactions. The proposal, presented by Trump himself in the Oval office, seeks to condition Kyiv aid, linking it with strategic resources such as lithium, uranium and titanium, fundamental to the technological and military industry. This strategy, which reflects its transactional approach in foreign policy, represents a significant change regarding the unconditional military assistance that the American nation has provided so far, where it was practically reduced to money and weapons. A turn in the relationship. Since Trump’s re -election, uncertainty about American commitment to Ukraine has been a matter of concern for Kyiv. Everything changes, a priori (and being real), with this offer, since Ukraine could ensure Washington’s support when a “strategic interest” In his future. In fact, the answer has not been expected, and Ukrainian officials have explained that The administration of Volodymyr Zelensky would be willing to sign joint agreements with the United States To guarantee the collaboration in the exploitation of these resources, in an attempt to consolidate military support in the middle of the wear of the conflict with Russia. Moreover, Zelensky has warned that Without American intervention, these resources could end up in the hands of adversaries As Iran or North Korea, in case of a Russian victory. Geopolitical impact As we said, the international reaction to Trump’s words has not been waiting. In Europe, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz harshly criticized the proposaldescribing it as selfish and stressing that minerals should be used for the reconstruction of Ukraine instead of being exchanged for weapons. A European diplomat expressed doubts about the viability of the plansuggesting that it is not yet clear if it is a negotiation strategy or a firm demand. In addition, he stressed that European countries have already considered more transactional approaches with the United States, although without compromising essential resources of Ukraine. And from Russia? From Moscow, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov interpreted Trump’s proposal as a sign that the United States will no longer deliver free helpwhat Russia sees as an opportunity to weaken Western support to Kyiv. This perspective coincides with Russian military advances in eastern Ukraine, where many of the rare mineral reserves are found. The minerals. It We have counted before. In the case at hand, the elements of rare earths that Donald Trump seeks to ensure through an agreement with Ukraine in exchange for military aid They are essential strategic metals for key industriesfrom advanced technology to defense. Despite its name, these 17 elements are not particularly scarce, since There are large deposits in China, Brazil, Vietnam and Russia. However, its extraction implies highly polluting and expensive processes, which has limited its production outside of Chinawho dominates the global market thanks to massive investments in refinement and more lax environmental regulation. The importance of rare earths. These metals They are practically irreplaceable in many industrial applications. Neodimium and Disposio, for example, allow to manufacture ultra -policy magnets essential for wind turbines and electric motors, while the Europium is crucial for television screens and the hill is used in oil refining. Besides, They play a key role in the development of modern armamentincluding in the equation guided missiles. Since production is concentrated in China (and therefore, The dependence of most countries), we have the best of the clues for which United States and EU seek to reduce its dependencepromoting new sources of supply and recycling of materials. Trump’s interest. Linking with the above, Trump possibly sees in Ukrainian deposits An opportunity to strengthen US supply and reduce that Chinese influence In the sector, more convulsed than ever with The war of tariffs imposed. In this sense, one of the greatest attractions of the agreement for Washington is Access to lithium deposits of Ukraine, essential for the manufacture of microchips and batteries for electric vehiclesstrategic sectors where the United States competes directly with China. Within the framework of its transactional policy, the tycoon proposes that Ukraine guarantees access to these resources in exchange for military support, An idea previously suggested by Volodymyr Zelensky. The geopolitics of these materials, therefore, is key, since a greater dependence on China could represent strategic risks, as happened in 2010 when Beijing blocked exports to Japan in a territorial conflict. Difference with other critical minerals. Rare earths are just a part of The so -called critical mineralsa broader category that includes tungsten, tellurium and Indian, essential for clean energy and advanced technologies. In fact, China has already imposed export controls of some of these materials In response to American tariffs, reinforcing the need to diversify the global supply. Paradigm change. Be that as it may, Trump’s interest in convert military assistance into an agreement based on resources It represents a fundamental change in the way in which the United States could handle its relationship with Ukraine (or other nations in conflict). While Kyiv sees this as an opportunity to maintain American support, the proposal It has also generated tensions with Europe and criticism about ethics to condition aid to an exchange of strategic goods. On the other hand, and at least publicly, Russia does not see it either bad, but as a chance. In a context of prolonged war and with Moscow gaining ground, this new approach could define the future of the conflict and remodel geopolitical balance in the coming years. Of course, it is about to see if Trumop’s … Read more

The earth’s crust is disappearing under California. The test is in its earthquakes

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The border between the mantle and the land cortex is a region that attracts interest of numerous geologists. Being so close and so far from the reach of the instruments that these scientists use perhaps a certain mysticism to this region, but above all, because the dynamism of The interactions Among the outermost layers of our planet makes this border a specially active region at the geological level. Scratching the bark. Now, a new study He has revealed A new aspect of this interaction. He has done it in the Sierra Nevada Californiana, or rather under this Sierra, where they have found evidence of how the mantle “pela” the earth’s crust. Delamination Geologists believe that, from time to time, fragments of the lithosphere end up detaching themselves and sinking into the upper layers of the terrestrial mantle. This process is known as alamination or sinking of the lithosphere and could be responsible for the notable differences in the thickness of the oceanic crust in contrast to the continental cortex, among other characteristics of the geology and geography of the planet. Generally, this process is seen as a “drip”: the heaviest rock of the cortex loses consistency and ends up detaching from the lithosphere to sink into the mantle, composed of less dense materials. However, Maybe this delamination is more abruptsomething like the terrestrial mantle “pelara” the cortex. Seismic waves. As usual in this type of studies, the team analyzed the way in which seismic waves move through the interior layers of the Earth in order to study factors such as the composition and density of these layers. Sierra Nevada is a seismically active region, which implies a greater ease to compile data in this way. The researchers responsible for the study They combined various sources of seismic data in their study, starting with this analysis, called the receiving function. The team combined it with the exhaustive catalog data of the Advanced National Seismic System (COMCAT). In this catalog they detected the presence of a “band of seismicity” in the region, located from 40 kilometers under the surface, which concentrated small earthquakes of magnitudes between 1.9 and 3.2. Break, I don’t drip. Thanks to the differences detected through the receiving functions, the equipment was able to find a differentiated layer in the mantle, a not so differentiated layer as it extends to the north and that is consistent with the hypothesis that part of the lithosphere in the South Zone broke out of the cortex several million years ago. The small earthquakes on the other hand, could be indicative that this detachment was made for breakage instead of drip, according to the authors of the study. The details of this analysis were published In an article In the magazine Geophysical Research Letters. Strengthening the hypothesis. The evidence is not yet conclusive as the team admits, but they add to the already numerous that support the hypothesis that the discontinuity of Mohorovičić (the border between the cortex and the upper mantle of the earth) is not abrupt under the mountain range from Sierra Nevada, but rather gradual. In Xataka | We knew that Yellowstone hid an immense volcano but not the place he would explode. Until now Image | Arttower

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