Rare earth metal prices have risen sharply over the past year while growing adoption of new technologies like electric vehicles is likely to send costs even higher, according to analysts. In the 12 months through September, the price of lithium carbonate—used in batteries, mobile devices, and spacecraft—surged 150 percent; the price of holmium oxide—used in…

LONDON—Growing demand for electric vehicles has spurred small-scale miners of the lithium, cobalt, and rare earths that automakers rely on to develop mines and build refining capacity in Europe to reduce their reliance on China. Efforts by the United States and Europe to build a secure and independent supply chain for the key minerals used…

Australian miner Vital Metals has begun rare earth production in Canada’s Northwest Territories, becoming the first producer in Canada and second in North America. The milestone has strategic significance and comes as democratic nations move to shore up rare earth supply chains independent of China. The Nechalacho project is expected to yield a minimum of 5,000…

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) on Monday led a bipartisan group of lawmakers in calling on the Biden administration to establish a “rare-earth metallurgical cooperative” to reduce the nation’s reliance on Beijing for the specialized minerals that are used to build electronics, military weapons, and other high-tech equipment. In a letter…

WASHINGTON—The Chinese communist regime has recently signaled that it could leverage its dominance in rare earth minerals, raising alarm bells in the United States. The threat has prompted the Biden administration to take action to reduce U.S. reliance on China for rare earth metals that are used in everything from smartphones to electric vehicles to…

The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded $30 million in funding to Australia’s Lynas Corp to build a rare earth processing plant in Texas, as the nation continues to seek to break its reliance on Chinese imports of the critical minerals. The facility will be able to process light rare earth elements (LREE), which are…