Rare

The new mayor of New York is a rare bird in the US, but he has an even more unexpected facet: a shareholder of Real Oviedo

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Among the many congratulations that Zohran Mamdani has received over the last few days, after conquering the seat of mayor of New York, there is one that stands out as unexpected: that of Real Oviedo. Yesterday the club carbayón conveyed his congratulations via It may sound strange, but it is better understood when you know a key fact: Mamdani has been a shareholder of Real Oviedo for years. To understand it you have to go back to 2012. Who is Zohran Mamdani? That question might have made sense a few years ago, when Mamdani was one of a long list of members of the Albany Assembly. Today his name is one of the most popular in the United States, even outside the political sphere. The reason: on Tuesday he beat Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa in the race for New York City Council, becoming the elected successor of Eric L. Adams and crowning a dazzling rise. Click on the image to go to the tweet. Why is it so popular? Taking into account that New York is the main city in the United States (and one of the most media-rich on the planet), becoming its mayor should be enough to gain global projection, but Mamdani stands out for something else: an unorthodox profile. So much so, in fact, that it is a rare bird in the long history of the municipality. To start with his age: he has just turned 34, making him the youngest politician to hold office in the last century. As if that weren’t enough, Mamdani is an immigrant (born in Kampala, Uganda), Muslim, made his debut in the world of rap under the name Mr. Cardamomo and defines himself as a “democratic socialist.” He is also a skilled communicator, handles himself with ease in networks and has not hesitated to run as one of the strongest voices in the opposition to Donald Trump, whom he sent a public message after proclaiming himself the winner of the municipal elections: “I know you’re watching. I only have three words for you: turn up the volume! New York will continue to be a city of immigrants, built by immigrants and driven by immigrants. And starting tonight led by an immigrant.” Click on the image to go to the tweet. And what does it have to do with Oviedo? To answer that question we have to go back to 2012, when Real Oviedo passed through low hours. In Spain the winds of recession were blowing and the club carbayón He was seen with battered accounts and confined to the Second Division Bfrom which it would still take time to come out. The club itself refers to that period, which began in 2001, as a “fight for survival”. With that backdrop, the Asturian team decided to desperately search for a capital increase to save it from the hole, an effort in which the city devoted itself and which had the support of well-known figures, such as the popular British journalist Sid Lowewho gave visibility to the campaign on social networks. The call from Lowe, a native of Archway (London), but a fan of Real Oviedo since his student years in the Asturian capital, came among others to a young man from Kampala, a football fan and with musical whims: Zohran Mamdani. At the time he was only 21 years old, but he decided to join the wave of support. On November 9, 2012, at 5:47 p.m., he responded to Sid Lowe’s request with a message posted on Twitter: “I just bought a share, am I possibly the first shareholder of the eral Oviedo based in Maine? #SOSRealOviedo.” His tweet passed without pain or glory. The message from one more fan. One more among hundreds. Things changed on Tuesday, when Mamdani became mayor of NY. Is it your only relationship with football? Mamdani is more than just a politician, former rapper and (now) elected mayor of the largest city in the United States. He is also a self-confessed soccer fan. He himself has said that he made his first steps during his student years and his Arsenal fandom. “My uncle is a fan. I had magnets of the Invincibles (the team that won the 2003-2004 First League without losing a game) on my fridge. I loved David Seaman, Sylvain Wiltord, all of them… I have gone to many Arsenal games, many with my uncle. It has been a very important part of my life,” explained recently to The New York Times. Beyond the stands or the fields, Mamdani has known how to combine his football hobby with his political side, which has led him to launch a campaign to demand that FIFA not marginalize New Yorkers in the World that will host North America in 2026 and that includes the MetLife Stadium between its stages. Their proposal is that the organizers reserve part of the tickets for residents and also offer them a discount. The objective: that enjoying the championship is not an unattainable luxury for New York families. Images | Real Oviedo and Wikipedia In Xataka | In 2017 Liverpool signed a star footballer. Without knowing it, he had found the solution to racism in sports

one will give in on tariffs, the other on rare earths

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Donald Trump and Xi Jinping They have met in BusanSouth Korea, in their first face-to-face meeting in six years. The goal: to see if there was any way to deal with all the chaos of their trade war, one that has shaken global markets and threatened to destabilize the world economy. After shaking hands at Gimhae air base, Trump stated that it was going to be a successful meeting, although he also warned that Xi is “a difficult negotiator.” What has been agreed. After approximately ninety minutes of talks, Trump assured that there would be significant tariff reductions. On the one hand, the president claims that tariffs related to fentanyl will drop from 20% to 10%which would place the total tariff burden on Chinese products at around 47%, compared to the previous 57%. Just like the media points outChina, for its part, has agreed to postpone for a year new restrictions on the export of rare earths processed, critical minerals for sectors such as defense, technology and renewable energies. In addition, Beijing will resume the massive purchase of American soybeans, a relief for North American farmers, tremendously affected by the absence of China in their market this year. Why is it important. This meeting comes after months of commercial escalation which has made investors and allies alike nervous. Logically, the fact that the two largest economies on the planet confront each other has consequences at a global level. Chinese restrictions on rare earths and lithium batteries threatened to cripple essential supply chains, while US tariffs on technology have curbed China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence. Furthermore, the agreement reached in Kuala Lumpur prior consultations sets the stage for a truce that, if fulfilled, could inject stability into a highly volatile global economy. We have to wait for results. Despite the optimistic tone, there is room for caution. Trump and Xi have already signed a “phase one” agreement in 2020 that forced China to buy more American agricultural products, something that Beijing barely complied with, according to words from WSJ. This time there are more elements at stake: the suspension of US investigations into Chinese maritime and logistics industries, review of technological export controls, advances in the case of TikTokrare earths, Taiwan and more. According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, both sides “have reached consensus while respecting principles of equality and mutual benefit.” It remains to be seen if that consensus ends up materializing. What was not touched. Trump claimed that Taiwan was not discussed at the meeting, allaying fears in Taipei about possible American concessions in exchange for trade advantages. Just like they explain From WSJ, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, had already publicly ruled out this possibility days before. Regarding Ukraine, Trump said they discussed the issue “extensively” and that both countries will work together to find a solution, although he did not give details. Curiously, according to point The Guardian, minutes before the meeting, Trump ordered the Pentagon to resume nuclear weapons testing, although the president later suggested it was not related to China. And now what. Xi has declared that both sides should “finish follow-up work as soon as possible” to implement the consensus reached. trump confirmed that he will visit China in April and that Xi will travel to the United States later. It remains to be seen if what Trump has loudly announced ends up materializing or if, on the contrary, it remains another meeting of unfulfilled promises. Cover image | Guardian In Xataka | China wants to achieve technological independence in the worst possible place for the US: its army

After China’s stick, the US already has a new partner to obtain rare earths

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President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have signed a critical minerals deal with the potential to create projects worth up to $8.5 billion, according to says the NYT. The pact responds directly to the recent restrictions that China has imposed on its exports of rare eartha movement that Trump rated as “sinister and hostile.” Why it is important. Critical minerals and rare earths are essential materials for manufacturing everything from semiconductors to engines, brakes and military fighters. China currently dominates global supply of these resources, which makes any restriction on their part a direct threat to Western production chains. And therefore, diversifying the sources of these types of elements has become a strategic priority for both the Trump administration and the previous Biden administration. Agreement with Australia. According to the summary provided by the White House, the agreement contemplate that the United States and Australia jointly invest $3 billion in critical minerals projects over the next six months. For its part, Australia is committed to investing billions in American defense companies. The US Department of Defense will also participate in the construction of a new refinery in Australia capable of extracting 100 tons of gallium metal per year. “In about a year, we will have so many critical minerals and rare earths that we won’t know what to do with them,” claimed Trump optimistically during the meeting with Albanese. The Australian Prime Minister, for his part, stressed that this agreement on critical minerals takes the economic and security relationship between both countries “to the next level.” Plan of action. Albanese’s office has made clear that the agreement functions as an “action plan” that “does not constitute or create legally binding obligations.” This contrasts with the public statements of both leaders, who seemed very enthusiastic on camera about the agreement, according to point the middle. The Australian ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd, already had advanced in August that Australia was “ready and able to help” diversify US supply chains, recalling that manufacturing a single Virginia-class submarine requires approximately 4.5 short tons of critical minerals and rare earth elements. This agreement also confirms Trump’s support for the AUKUS pactthe trilateral defense alliance between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia announced in 2021 under the Biden administration. Trump, who had undergone a thorough review of AUKUS since July, said plans to deliver US-made submarines to Canberra were “moving forward very quickly.” However, he acknowledged that the project had progressed “too slowly” so far. US Navy Secretary John Phelan declared that the goal is to “improve the original AUKUS framework for all three parties and clarify some of the ambiguity that was in the previous agreement.” China’s door is not closed yet. With this move, the United States is closer to having access to these critical minerals from different parts of the world, reducing its dependence on China. In recent months, the US government has committed 75 million dollars to invest in Ukraine’s mineral reserves and has backed railway projects in Angola that will facilitate access to minerals in central Africa. Despite tensions with Beijing, Trump stated on Monday that he believes it is possible to reach a trade deal with China during his upcoming trip to Asia this month, where he is expected to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Cover image | Paul-Alain Hunt and Brandon Mowinkel In Xataka | China was the great polluter of the planet: now it is emerging as the first “electrostate” in history

China wants to imprison the world with its restrictions on rare earths. His greatest prey has escaped him

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It’s been months since China presses the whole world with one of his great aces up his sleeve: rare earths. Last week he used them again to unbalance the balance of technological trade worldwide and imposed new restrictions to its export, but its attack has a gigantic hole. One called Taiwan. rare earths to me. Taiwan’s economy minister has revealed that the country does not expect there to be a big impact from these new restrictions from China. The reason is simple: such minerals are different from the metals needed in the semiconductor sector that Taiwan’s manufacturers and production plants dominate. Taiwan does not need China. In fact, both the products necessary domestically for the production of these chips and the rare earths used in their manufacturing processes come from Europe, the United States and Japan. This makes the country safe from the pressure that China wants to exert with its dominance of the rare earth segment. China tries to force the hand. China expanded significantly export controls on rare earths last Thursday. It added five new items to its list of minerals with restricted exports, but also imposed new scrutiny mechanisms for chip users. The change is not minor: any product manufactured outside the country that contains just 0.1% of materials of Chinese origin will need a license to be exported. TSMC safe. Taiwan is the largest chip factory in the world and for years it has TSMC as a major player in the sector. The company leads this segment and has become the great ally of the Western world when it comes to producing chips for the AI ​​industry. The Chinese restrictions do not appear to pose future dangers for TSMC and other manufacturers in the country, according to those statements. But. Even so, the economy minister added that these additional controls could affect global supply chains for various products. To clarify better: the direct impact may not be noticeable, but yes it could be the indirect onebecause for example ASML’s EUV scanners use rare earth magnets that could end up suffering delays due to these restrictions. And be careful with the “ripe chips”. For example, chips for electric vehicles and drones. China is precisely determined to dominate the mature circuit market: given that can’t compete At the moment with the most advanced manufacturing technology, what it wants is to be the main protagonist of less advanced but equally important chips in industries such as the automotive industry. Restrictions as a lever to negotiate. China’s measures in this regard They are just part of that commercial and technological war that it maintains with the West and, especially, with the United States. The reaction of the US government was immediate, and Donald Trump announced 100% additional tariffs on Chinese imports. Both superpowers try to use their assets to put pressure on their rival while waiting for a imminent negotiation: Trump and Xi Jinping are expected to meet in South Korea in late October. Image |Wikimedia | leannk

US responds to China’s new rare earths rules with 100% tariff threat that screams negotiation

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Just a couple of days ago we knew China’s new rare earth rules with which it completely disrupted the global map of strategic minerals. Taking into account that the Asian giant supplies approximately 70% of strategic minerals to the world, it could be said that China is the global mine of an essential raw material for the technology industry. And that gives it a privileged position to apply a standard of this caliber: any product manufactured outside of China with at least 0.1% of materials of Chinese origin. will require a license for export. That is, it not only controls what leaves China, but also what other countries produce with their materials and technologies, being able to decide what is exported, to whom and for what purpose following national security criteria. After a few hours assimilating the news and speculation of a response from Donald Trump and even his non-attendance at the next event where he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, The United States has announced new 100% tariffs unparalleled. New tariffs, more control and a date that invites negotiation The president of the United States has exploded in Truth Social talking about ‘an extraordinarily aggressive stance on commercial matters‘, of ‘an extremely hostile letter‘and of’a moral shame in dealing with other nations‘referring to China’s new measures on its rare earths, insisting that it affects both the products they manufacture and those they do not. Furthermore, he has asserted that ‘It was evidently a plan drawn up by them years ago.‘. More tariffs. Because Donald Trump has announced in Truth Social that the United States will impose a new 100% tariff on China, which will be added to any other tariffs already in place. Likewise, they will also impose export controls on all critical software. It must be taken into account that practically all products imported from China to the United States already have high tariffs, ranging from 50% on steel and aluminum to only 7.5% on consumer goods, with an effective tariff rate of around 40%, according to expert analysts from Wells Fargo Economics and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. AND has left a key date of entry into force: next November 1, 2025. Between the lines. The date chosen by Trump is not coincidental: it is exactly the same as China’s for the measures on rare earths to be operational. And its message hides several key words that refer to a predisposition to negotiation ‘from the November 1, 2025 (or sooner, depending on the actions or changes China takes)‘. He also insists that he (obviously) speaks on behalf of the United States and not ‘from other countries equally threatened‘ Throwing down a gauntlet to potential allies for their coup d’état. In Xataka | In 1978 Chinese engineers visited two key US companies. Upon his return, an empire began: rare earths In Xataka | An industry in the hands of TSMC and Asian factories: the map of global chip production Cover | Jose Alberto Lizana with AI

its new rare earth rules target the United States

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China has just moved a piece that can alter the global board of strategic minerals. Beijing has approvedtwo official announcements that establish a new regime of control over the rare earth and technologies linked to its extraction, processing and manufacturing of magnets. The change is not minor: any product manufactured outside the country that contains just 0.1% of materials of Chinese origin will need a license to be exported. It is China’s most ambitious response in an area that it has been using for years as an economic and political lever. This movement does not come from nowhere. The Asian giant has been weaving a strategy for months to strengthen its control over the materials that feed the global technology industry. In April it already restricted the export of metals such as gallium and germanium, essential for the manufacture of chips, and weeks later expanded the list with scandium and dysprosium. Later this year we explain how This offensive is based on a solid base: 39 university programs specialized in rare earths that ensure the knowledge and manpower that today support its leadership. How the Asian giant transfers its power over minerals to the rest of the world With the new provisions of the Ministry of Commerce, Beijing introduces extraterritorial control over strategic minerals for the first time. It not only regulates what leaves its territory, it also what other countries produce with materials or technologies of Chinese origin. The country will be able to decide what is exported, to whom and for what purposes, under national security criteria. Applications for military purposes will bein principle, denied, while those related to semiconductors or artificial intelligence will be examined on a case-by-case basis. The second standard approved on the same day goes one step further: it is not limited to materials, but it protects the technical knowledge that makes them possible. The Asian country prohibits the transfer without permission of its extraction, refining, metallurgy or magnet manufacturing technologies, as well as any type of technical assistance linked to them. The definition of “export” is broad and includes activities such as consulting, training or collaboration in research projects. With this measure, Beijing shields its industrial experience and restricts the dissemination of its know-how outside its borders. The application schedule is staggered. Part of the new framework takes effect immediately, while the rest will take effect on December 1. At the same time, the Ministry of Commerce expands its scope of action with an additional package that add new items to the checklistincluding graphite anodes, certain lithium-ion batteries, synthetic diamonds, and various rare earths that were not listed in the previous restrictions. The expansion directly targets industries with high technological value and reinforces the Asian giant’s ability to set the pace of the global supply chain. The new rules could disrupt the pace of entire sectors. Magnets and alloys derived from rare earths are present in electric motors, wind turbines, medical equipment and consumer electronics. Under the new licensing system, every component that uses Chinese materials or technologies will have to go through an additional layer of oversight. The most exposed companies are those that depend on intermediate suppliers, especially in the automotive and energy sectors. For many, this move confirms that Beijing’s industrial control is no longer limited to its borders. Applications subject to increased scrutiny include advanced semiconductors and artificial intelligence. The Ministry of Commerce has established a procedure case-by-case review for exports related to chips 14 nanometers or smaller and high-density memories. In the case of AI, supervision extends to projects with military or defense potential. This is not a general veto, but rather a system of selective licenses that allows Beijing to adjust its response depending on the context and the country of destination. The application of the new framework will require a high degree of coordination between companies and authorities. Exporters must apply for licenses through the Ministry of Commerce system and submit documentation in Chinese. In addition, they must issue compliance notices to the following links in the chain and report each approved shipment. The ministry has also enabled a consultation channel for doubtful cases, which reflects the complexity of the process. Even in Beijing they admit that effectiveness will depend on the supervision capacity that it manages to build in the coming months. Exporters must apply for licenses through the Ministry of Commerce system and present documentation in Chinese The moment is not coincidental. Beijing announces these measures just before the meeting between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump planned in South Koreain an attempt to strengthen their negotiating position. For months, rare earths have been at the center of trade talks between the two countries, and the new regulations add pressure on Washington. The strategy is clear: demonstrate that the Asian giant retains decisive levers in sectors that the United States considers strategic, from semiconductors to the materials that support its military industry. With these regulations, Beijing closes a circle that it had been drawing for years: it controls access to materials, the technologies that transform them and the knowledge that makes them possible. The Asian country converts strategic minerals into an instrument of economic and diplomatic power, reinforcing its weight in the negotiation with Washington. For the United States and its allies, the new situation represents an uncomfortable reminder: while they seek to reduce their dependence, the Asian giant continues to set the pace for the resources that sustain the global technological economy. Images | wirestock | ArthurHidden | aboodi vesakaran In Xataka | In 1978 Chinese engineers visited two key US companies. Upon his return, an empire began: rare earths

While the world desperately seeks rare earth, China has an overwhelming advantage: it’s called Wem

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It seems clear that it has begun A race On the planet: the search for Rare earths and the essential critical minerals for many of the sectors that mark the geopolitical agenda. The problem for 99.9% of nations is the same: when they seem to have reached a deposit there are already A Chinese flag. What is not usually explained so much is how Beijing does. The miliar origin. Deep in the mountains of center of China extends A monumental installation that transforms both the landscape and the global competition for strategic resources. It is a gigantic antenna of 500 kilowatts, with lines that are deployed over 80 and 120 kilometers, originally conceived to maintain communication with underwater underwater. This electromagnetic colossus, whose extension exceeds in five times the New York surfacehas been converted into a decisive instrument for the exploration of critical minerals, projecting signals capable of penetrating kilometers in the earth’s crust and revealing deposits that previously remained out of human reach. What began as a military project has become a Scientific and Technological Weapon which gives Beijing a remarkable advantage in the race for the resources that will define the future of energy and industry. Electromagnetic exploration. A study of the China Geological Survey (CGS), published in the Geophysical & Geochemical Exploration magazine, has detailed how the country has managed to monopolize Electromagnetic systems of ultra-high power. All platforms that exceed 100 kW are in Chinese territory, while the most powerful tool in the United States barely reaches 30 kW. The difference is not trivial: this technological leap has allowed Chinese geologists to discover in recent years sites of historical magnitude, such as the Greater gold deposit of the world, reserves Lithium ultra-extends and uranium veins in depths Never achieved. The research led by Chen Hui and his team affirms That these innovations consolidate China’s world position in electromagnetic exploration theory and technology, placing it far ahead of any western competitor. The challenge. As the superficial deposits of copper, lithium, cobalt and rare earths are exhausted, the exploration has moved to what geologists call The “Second Mineral Space”: An underground strip that extends between 500 and 2,000 meters deep. In this environment, the signs issued by mineral bodies are extremely weak and are usually buried under the cultural noise generated by electricity lines, urban infrastructure and extractive operations. The Chinese response has been to redefine the scale of prospecting: multiply the transmission power by above 100 kWflooding the subsoil with signs capable of crossing interference and reaching depths of up to 3,000 meters with unprecedented clarity. Advances in the subsoil cartography. The jump is not limited to power. While conventional techniques relied on two -dimensional models not suitable for complex structures, Chinese systems use Sensors distributed networks and multidirectional field sources that allow a real three -dimensional image of the subsoil. In the Jiama copper mine, in the Tibet, a controlled audio-magnetothelúrica tensorial study (CSAMT) reached unpublished resolutions at more than 3,000 meters, subsequently confirmed with drilling nuclei. These results They far exceeded to the Magnetotheluric of Natural Source, usually ineffective in saturated noise environments. The methods. One of the most prominent advances is the Electromagnetic method wide field, developed by Professor He Jishan, which allows you to obtain reliable data even in the so -called “nearby field zone”, where the records were not very useful. At the same time, the time-frequency electromagnetic systems are expanding the available information by measuring not only the resistance of the materials, but also its polarization and permeabilityessential parameters to distinguish between different types of deposits. The Wem project. And so we reach the clearest symbol of this ambition: The Wem project (Wireless Electromagnetic Method), whose colossal structure crosses China’s heart with two antenna lines arranged almost at right angles. This system, which began as a naval communication tool, has become the First electromagnetic transmitter of continental scale used in the prospecting of resources. In a national test carried out in 2023its signs were detected from Tibet to Interior Mongolia and Guangdong, more than 2,000 kilometers away. In the area of ​​Xiong’an there were magnetic fields up to seven times higher than the natural background noise, an unequivocal demonstration of the system’s capacity to impose itself on the most complex interference. Strategic advantage. In other words, with these Beijing technologies It is placed at the head of the struggle for the essential mineral resources for the energy transition and the green technologies: lithium for batteries, cobalt for high resistance alloys and rare earths essential in modern electronics. In contrast, most Western countries lack comparable systems and, except Russia, almost none use ultra-high power instruments in terrestrial prospecting. Even the most powerful teams manufactured in the West have been designed at China, which underlines the existing technological dependence. A new geopolitical board. China’s ability to identify deep deposits quickly Not only is it a scientific advantage, but also strategic. Control over technology and data places Beijing in a position to mark the rhythm of the discovery of resources in the coming decades. If you want, in a context where the energy transition redefines the global value chains, who controls access to lithium, cobalt and rare earth will control much of the industrial future. With the deployment of Giant antennas and electromagnetic systems Of unpublished power, China is making it clear that it does not intend to participate in the race: its goal is to win it. Image | Ilo Asia-Pacific, Herry Lawford, Terence Wright In Xataka | The great covered in the War of Critical Minerals is Tungsten. The US needs it and 83% have it China In Xataka | In 1978 Chinese engineers visited two key US companies. On his return an empire began: the rare earths

A very rare element of the periodic table is unleashing a new geopolitical battle with China: Germanio

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China has been weaving, little by little, a network of power around critical minerals: first Rare earthsafter Copper And now Germanio. Although its name barely says anything to the general public, this metal is essential for the defense industry – from the night vision systems of the fighters to the satellites – and for the optical fibers that support the Internet. Today there is almost no market, its price has been quintupled in two years and the origin of the collapse has a clear name: Beijing. The origin of the crisis. Two years ago, China announced controls At the exit of Germanio, Gallium and Antimony in response to the restrictions of the United States and the Netherlands on advanced semiconductors. However, the real blow arrived at the end of 2024: Germanio’s exports collapsed, leaving merchants without supply. Terence Bell, from Strategic Metal Investments, I recognized Financial Times That had been able to buy a gram six months. “The situation is desperate,” he said. Aaron Jerome, from Lipmann Walton & Co, described a devastated market: “Before we could buy 100 kilos; now we are lucky if we got 10, and the triple price.” And Christian Hell, from the Tradition Commercial House, added to the same medium that the demand was “for the clouds” and that he received desperate consultations of companies from the United States and Europe. The figures confirm the collapse. According to a Policy Accelator Silverado analysis cited by Financial Timesbetween January and July of this year, Germanio imports to the United States from China fell 40%. The result has been an unprecedented price escalation: just $ 1,000 in 2023 to almost $ 5,000 in September this year. This is the highest level registered since 2011. A strategic role. The importance of Germanio is not in its geological rarity, but that it is very difficult to extract, since it is obtained as a zinc and coal byproduct. In addition, its use in defense is irreplaceable for thermal image systems in fighters, drones and satellites. In the civil sector, it is used in optical fiber, solar panels and chips. “Finding substitute materials is complicated, because it would imply a complete redesign and a loss of unacceptable precision in military applications,” explained the analyst Caroline Messecar in Financial Times. For these reasons, According to estimates from the Fastmarkets agencyworld demand is around 180-200 tons per year of Germanio. One more piece of a much wider board. In Beijing they have converted critical minerals into geopolitical weapons. At the end of 2024, They prohibited export from Gallium, Antimony and Germanio to the United States, and shortly after added Scandio and Disposioessential in chips, telecommunications and storage. The strategy behind the Asian giant is to monopolize the control of the entire chain. To name a few examples, China has 4% of world copper reserves, but controls 49% of the global refining. “More than accumulating raw materials, China is building an intentional bottleneck in the supply chain,” My partner has detailed in Xataka. The same goes for the Tungsten, where it controls 83% of the world supply and tightened the export controls in February 2025, What fired prices 55%. In simple words: Beijing seeks to be essential. It controls the most valuable link – the defendant – and with it conditions global access to strategic metals of the 21st century. However, its power is not absolute: it depends on importing concentrates from countries such as Chile, Peru or Mexico. If any of those partners change position – Mexico, for example, 50% tariffs have already imposed Chinese products in 2025-, Beijing risks a cut of vital supplies. In addition, this control strategy has a price: Chinese copper foundations work with negative margins and some have had to close. A movement to counterreloj. Before the blockade, Germanio’s great consumers try to move quickly. On the one hand, in the United States, defense giant Larkheed Martin signed in August a direct agreement with the South Korea Zinc to ensure supply, something unpublished so far. Lightpath Technologies, with government support, works in optical alternatives, although its director Sam Rubin warns in ft: “No one is going to redesign an existing system until it is inevitable.” On the other hand, the options are scarce. Umicore in Belgium and Teck Resources in Canada produce some Germanio, but insufficient. Germany He already warns thatif the crisis lasts, its automotive industry could stop part of the production in a matter of weeks. The European Chamber of Commerce has even asked Beijin to release supplies for chips factories. The historical supplier, Russia, has also been out of the board. For years it was one of Germanio’s main sources for the West, thanks to its production associated with zinc and coal mining. However, international sanctions for the Ukraine War cut that flow almost completely. Moscow continues to produce, but its exports are now directed to China and countries that do not participate in the sanctions, According to FT. For the United States and Europe, that means having lost another supply route in the worst possible time, which has further reinforced Beijing’s domain. Looking to the future. In Germany, a group of researchers from the Technical University of Freiberg Work in a method surprising: extract Germanio from plants after fermentation processes for biogas. At the moment, they only achieve some milligrams per liter, but they aspire to reach a gram, which would open the door to a sustainable and local production. From anonymity to key element. Germanio has become a symbol of a new era: that of minerals as strategic weapons. As Financial Times has pointed outdemand does not stop growing while the offer narrows. And the lesson is clear: in an electrified and militarized world, who controls critical minerals will control power. Image | Freepik and Unspash Xataka | Nickel’s paradox: West needs it more than ever for electrification, but China and Indonesia have market dominance

Sin rare Chinese, the US military supply chain wobbles

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The United States is one of the main military powers of the planet. And that war muscle It does not feed exclusively with money. Requires something else: Rare earth. That’s where his geopolitical antagonist, China comes into play. The Asian giant controls rare earth production And the United States is realizing something: those who do their arms do not have it easy to find suppliers that are not Chinese. And it’s what is causing A new war, the magnets. And it is affecting the entire US military chain: from bullets to the most expensive hunt in history. Rare earth. Yes, again. We have already counted on other occasions that “rare earths” are a peculiar term because they are neither lands, nor are they rare. It is a set of 17 elements that are all over the world, but whose difficulty lies in the process to “take off the grain of the straw.” It is a polluting process that was delegated to China, which is why The country dominates its production. How far? It depends on the material, but it is estimated that China produces around 90% of refined rare lands, as well as 94% of gallium production and 83% Germanioalso crucial for industries such as the military. They also control the production of aluminum or steel. Stab where it hurts: weapons. Within the rare earths, a crucial component is the magnets. They are used in many industries such as audio (headphones do not work without magnets, for example), that of renewable (for wind turbines) or for electric cars batteriesto quote just a few. And yes, they are also crucial for the military industry. Combat fighters, guided ballistic missiles, drones and even night vision glas iron control over what they export and their possible military use by other countries, who manufacture weapons and systems for the United States are forced to look for alternatives. The problem is not cheap. This graph shows China’s enormous power in the rare earth metals segment Shot prices. The Wall Street Journal Ha Posted an article in which they expose the case of a manufacturer of pieces for military drones that is crashing against the wall of the rare Chinese earth. It is being forced to delay orders for up to two months because it does not give viable sources of magnets other than China itself. In the article, he points out that these materials necessary for the war industry are being sold for five times their usual value, or more. The countries and companies that need these materials usually have an emergency stock, but as the Leonardo DRS company (a US -based defense contractor and Italian company comments on the company. Leonardo Spa.), They are already using that security stock. If you want to maintain the punctual pace of deliveries, the flow of materials “must improve in the second half of this year,” they point out. Case: The most expensive hunt in history. One of the most leading and controversial products of the United States military machinery in recent years has a name and surname: Lockheed Martin F-35. This hunting is the most expensive in history (What do we know), One of the most advanced And even Donald Trump critical Before his first term, claiming that his cost was “out of control.” Only the pilot’s helmet costs $ 400,000 and the initial estimate of the cost of each plane was more than $ 100 million and the project was described as “El that devoured the pentagon“ Well, among the hunting components, we have some 400 kilos of rare earth magnets, an element that placed the plane In the eye of the hurricane a few months ago. And previously, there were already revealing How much the US needs China’s rare trade. Those upward prices due to Chinese commercial restrictions They have caused other sources of samarium, a necessary element to manufacture the magnets of the engines of the fighters, offer the material for a price 60 times higher than the standard. Beyond F-35. To problems with magnets and rare earths are added Export restrictions of Germanio, Gallium and Antimony. In the first bars of the commercial war, China closed the tap of these materials that are key to another good military solutions, such as the creation of hardened projectiles or infrared vision systems. Situation? Panic. Given this situation, USA, Europe, Japan and more countries are desperately looking for rare earth deposits or alternative ways to obtain them. But, as we said, the complicated thing is not so much to find these deposits as processing them. Meanwhile, it’s time to continue buying China what China wants to export, since, as other sources in the sector point in the WSJ report, some of the elements are “so specific that they cannot occur profitably in the West.” Everything indicates that China has the pan of the rare earths through the mango. The pentagon demanded Defense contractors stop buying rare earth magnets of Chinese origin before 2027, but although some companies have accumulated reservations, other smaller ones have not had that opportunity to go with the accounts more “up to date”. The papers. And it is no longer just that the US does not want to buy from China, but that China has also begun to look at all the Westerners who want their rare earths. One of the companies is Eproppelled, American and manufacturer of drones, which a curious situation was found in May of this year. When buying magnets from your Chinese supplier, the supplier sent you a series of official forms that demanded plans, product images and a list of companies that would buy the finished product. Among Eproppelled customers are civil companies, but also military, and given the refusal to sign the papers, the Chinese supplier canceled the shipment of magnets. They point out that companies that use these materials to create civil use products are evaluated and approved, but if the use will be military or aerospace, the approval is more complicated. Committed merchandise. … Read more

The most revolutionary and rare writing machine was lost in 1940. Until someone received a message

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Many may not know, but WRITE MACHINES Not only were they important in the past, the present would not be auctionally similar without these tools. In fact, in 1980 Apple made a decision that few understood: declare him War to the machine to write Several centuries before, in China, someone devised the most revolutionary of all these machines. The problem is that there was only one and lost. Until now. Lost keys. THE HISTORY LA had the New York Times. It all started in 2007, when Tom MullaneyProfessor of Chinese History at Stanford, prepared a presentation about the disappearance of Chinese characters and wondered how something printed could be forgotten. That doubt led him to A revelation: How had a writing system as vast as the Chinese mechanized? He did not remember ever seeing a Chinese typewriter, and when he knocked down in his office to look at old patents, a trip that would last for years began. Discovered that, although scarce, they had existed dozen different models Chinese writing machines, each with ingenious solutions to try to represent thousands of ideograms in a portable frame. One is missing. From there, Mullaney launched a kind of hunting global: He called collectors, heirs traced on ancestry.com, visited churches, museums, even stores. Over time He gathered a collection Of unique devices, some rescued by very little of oblivion, aware that each one was an unrepeatable piece of the history of mechanized writing. However, there was a machine that could not find, not even dreaming of recovering: the legendary mingkwai. Lin Yutang’s mingkwai writing machine, as illustrated in its patent application The impossible machine. The Mingkwai It was created in the 40s by Lin Yutanga Chinese intellectual based in New York who feared that China, if it did not modernize their way of writing, It would be behind in front of foreign powers. To solve the dilemma of how to represent thousands of characters with a few keys, Lin devised a Revolutionary mechanical system: Any combination of two keys activated gears that showed up to eight possible characters in a central window that baptized as the “magical eye”, allowing the user to choose the right one. With only 72 keys, Lin had built an interface that allowed to generate tens of thousands of charactersa kind of chimeric keyboard capable of typing an entire universe. He baptized his creation as Mingkwai, which can be translated (freely) as “clear and fast.” Lost. The problem is that your demonstration before Remington executives It was a disaster: The machine failed and Lin ended up ruined. Along the way, the only prototype was sold to Mergenthaler Linotype, a Brooklyn printing press. From there, the trail It was lost. In his book The Chinese Typewriter (2017), Mullaney wrote that it was most likely to have ended in a landfill. Until, by chance, something extraordinary happened. Lin Yutang The reunion. We arrive at January 2025when Jennifer and Nelson Felix, from Massopequa (New York), reviewed boxes stored after her death. Suddenly, they found A wooden box containing something strange: a typewriter with Chinese keys. Nelson, fond of sale on Facebook, He published some photos In a specialized group without imagining that I was going to detonate a storm of messages. In less than an hour, hundreds of comments, many in Chinese, shouted at one thing: “Contact Tom!” While giving a talk in Chicago, Mullaney He began to receive a waterfall of notifications. As soon as he saw the photos, the man knew that he had to do with the mingkwai. Fear of losing it. The Times told that the historian did not feel jubilation with the news, but rather fear. If someone bought it on eBay and turned it into a lamp or a coffee table, it would disappear forever. What did he do? He wrote to the couple urgently, he told them the history of the machine and asked them to consider sell it to a museum. Jennifer, incredulous, understood in a short time that the object of more than 50 kilos was not just junk. “It was lost half a century,” he explained to Times. “We didn’t want it to be lost again.” From the basement to the campus. The story charged an unexpected turn when Mullaney discovered that Jennifer’s grandfather, Douglas Arthur Jung, had worked on Mergenthaler Linotype And he probably saved the scratch machine when he took it with him. For decades, the family had preserved it without knowing what it was. In April, the couple accepted Sell to Stanfordwhich acquired it thanks to a private donor. When he finally arrived in California, Mullaney witnessed his unpacking with expectation. There, in the University warehouse, he discovered that his mechanism was even more delicate and sophisticated of what I imagined. The machine not only survived: He spokeor something similar. He began to wonder what engineers could discover if they were carefully dismantled. Could, perhaps, replicate it? Does Lin’s thoughts unravel in 1947, when he believed that a typography could save his nation? A recovered story. The History of the mingkwai It is more than that of the rescue of an exotic and rare machine. If you want, it is even a metaphor of ideas that, without interlocutors, run the risk of disappear forever. Mullaney understood that it was possibly the last one who could understand what these machines represented: the linguistic dilemmas of a civilization, the technological aspirations of a nation then marginalized, or even the desperate elegance of a visionary inventor. The mingkwai was a device that No one wanted In his time, too advanced already too clumsy, the result of an idea too big for an era that still did not know how to translate it. But when finding it, complete and still capable of astonishing, the professor not only recovered a museum piece: he rescued from oblivion an entire chapter in the history of human writing. Image | StanfordCampbell, Brobough & Free, American Memory Digital Item Display In Xataka | In 1980, Apple made … Read more

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