The supply chain of rare earths for the U.S. and allied nations is becoming a matter of national security, as the Pentagon underscores a rising interest in public-private mining partnerships to counter China’s status as the top global producer of rare earths, reports Reuters.
“We know we cannot resolve our shared exposure to supply chain risk without a close partnership with industry,” Danielle Miller of the Pentagon’s Office of Industrial Policy told the Adamas Intelligence North American Critical Minerals Days conference.
“New primary production of strategic and critical minerals – in a word, mining – is a necessity to increase resilience in global supply chains.”