The media cited the reason for the West's interest in rare earth metals

Western countries are interested in obtaining mineral resources because they want to get out of dependence on China, which is a leader in this field. This was reported by the Bloobmerg agency on March 21.

"China has been successfully solving problems [with fossils] for more than a decade, making it the undisputed leader in the production of critically important minerals... If other countries are going to get a chance to challenge his dominance in these clean technologies, they need to catch up with him quickly," the agency reports.

As trade wars develop and consumption increases, the issue of mining rare metals is becoming more urgent. For example, in 2023, the European Union (EU) classified copper and nickel as critically important resources for the first time, although no one had previously considered these minerals rare.

"Even in the case of more common metals such as copper, a massive increase in demand means that there may not be enough for everyone," Bloomberg warns.

Currently, China is the largest producer of refined forms of cobalt and nickel, as Chinese companies invest heavily in mines of these minerals in countries such as Congo and Indonesia.

"Today, China is the leading producer of 20 essential raw materials, as measured by its share in global extracted or refined production. In the case of the rare earth element dysprosium, used in lighting and lasers, China is responsible for 84% of extracted supplies and 100% of refined production," the agency notes.

So much, but not enough: what are rare earth metals and what are they for?

In 2025, Russia began to actively develop the industry

On March 20, US President Donald Trump instructed United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs Doug Bergam to compile a list of all federal lands with mineral deposits within 10 days. In addition, he signed a decree according to which Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright should help attract private capital to mining projects. Earlier, on March 18, Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said that Russia could cooperate with the United States and other countries in the field of rare earth metals. He noted that Russia has impressive reserves of rare earth metals, which are many times higher than those in Ukraine, and they are much more economically profitable in terms of production.