Archive | Element 17

Merz Invokes Berlin’s Airlift to Argue for E.U. Rare Earth Stockpiles Stored in Brussels

Nov 9, 2026

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5 min read

Merz Invokes Berlin’s Airlift to Argue for E.U. Rare Earth Stockpiles Stored in Brussels

Germany’s chancellor proposed EU-level stockpiles in Brussels on November 5. China’s pause on its October 2025 export rules ends tomorrow, and no extension has been published.

28,000 Parts in 1,400 Weapons Systems Depend on Four Minerals China Controls

Nov 6, 2026

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5 min read

28,000 Parts in 1,400 Weapons Systems Depend on Four Minerals China Controls

Eric Schmidt’s SCSP used AI to scan roughly nine million parts across 3,000 weapons systems. It found more than 300 Virginia-class submarine parts tied to antimony, gallium, germanium, or tungsten.

Global Scandium Output Is About 80 Tonnes a Year. One New Mine Is Approved to Add 60

Nov 5, 2026

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5 min read

Global Scandium Output Is About 80 Tonnes a Year. One New Mine Is Approved to Add 60

Sunrise Energy Metals approved the US$322 million Syerston scandium mine, backed by up to US$400 million in conditional Pentagon-linked debt. First oxide is due in the second half of 2028.

Six Days to November 10, and Beijing Hasn’t Said Whether the Rare Earth Suspension Continues

Nov 4, 2026

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5 min read

Six Days to November 10, and Beijing Hasn’t Said Whether the Rare Earth Suspension Continues

A small Manifold market puts 85% odds on the suspension surviving to November 30. But the April 2025 licences on dysprosium, terbium and yttrium were never suspended, and they stay in force either way.

Dysprosium Costs $212/kg in China. Outside China, It Trades at up to $5,500

Nov 3, 2026

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5 min read

Dysprosium Costs $212/kg in China. Outside China, It Trades at up to $5,500

SMM starts four Rotterdam price assessments on November 4, and Benchmark added 19 new grades, 12 of them for North America.

DTEC Becomes the First Company Through Malaysia’s New Rare Earth Export Door

Nov 2, 2026

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5 min read

DTEC Becomes the First Company Through Malaysia’s New Rare Earth Export Door

A 10% refundable tax offset on refining costs starts July 1, 2027. The EU proposes up to €10 billion for critical raw materials, and Canberra now lists 36 midstream projects. The strategy is coherent. The clock is the problem.

Australia Spent a Century Digging. Now It Wants to Refine.

Oct 30, 2026

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6 min read

Australia Spent a Century Digging. Now It Wants to Refine.

A 10% refundable tax offset on refining costs starts July 1, 2027. The EU proposes up to €10 billion for critical raw materials, and Canberra now lists 36 midstream projects. The strategy is coherent. The clock is the problem.

Twelve Days to November 10: China’s 0.1% Rare Earth Rule Has Never Taken Effect

Oct 29, 2026

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5 min read

Twelve Days to November 10: China’s 0.1% Rare Earth Rule Has Never Taken Effect

Any foreign-made product with at least 0.1% Chinese-origin rare earths by value would need a Beijing license. China suspended the rule in 2025. The pause ends November 10, and no extension notice was confirmed in mid-October.

Everybody Has a Plan. Almost Nobody Has a Factory.

Oct 28, 2026

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5 min read

Everybody Has a Plan. Almost Nobody Has a Factory.

GM built a rare earth magnet maker in Indiana, then sold it to China-backed owners. Jack Lifton’s new count of non-China metal producers is still tiny.

GM Co-Invented the NdFeB Magnet in 1983. It Has Cancelled Its Deal With the New U.S. Plant Built to Make Them.

Oct 27, 2026

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5 min read

GM Co-Invented the NdFeB Magnet in 1983. It Has Cancelled Its Deal With the New U.S. Plant Built to Make Them.

Induction, switched-reluctance, and ferrite-magnet motors don’t need Chinese rare earths, but they’re bigger, slower, or less precise than the magnets they’d replace – and China controls roughly 95% of finished permanent magnets.

TSMC Asks Suppliers to Build Motors Without Chinese Rare Earth Magnets

Oct 26, 2026

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5 min read

TSMC Asks Suppliers to Build Motors Without Chinese Rare Earth Magnets

Induction, switched-reluctance, and ferrite-magnet motors don’t need Chinese rare earths, but they’re bigger, slower, or less precise than the magnets they’d replace – and China controls roughly 95% of finished permanent magnets.

Japan Is Months From Running Out of Yttrium – and It Spent Sixteen Years Preparing for This

Oct 23, 2026

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5 min read

Japan Is Months From Running Out of Yttrium – and It Spent Sixteen Years Preparing for This

Dysprosium, terbium, and yttrium shipments to Japan hit zero in June, per Chinese customs data. One official says the stockpile runway is now measured in months, not years.

Merz Invokes Berlin’s Airlift to Argue for E.U. Rare Earth Stockpiles Stored in Brussels

28,000 Parts in 1,400 Weapons Systems Depend on Four Minerals China Controls

Global Scandium Output Is About 80 Tonnes a Year. One New Mine Is Approved to Add 60

Six Days to November 10, and Beijing Hasn’t Said Whether the Rare Earth Suspension Continues

Dysprosium Costs $212/kg in China. Outside China, It Trades at up to $5,500

DTEC Becomes the First Company Through Malaysia’s New Rare Earth Export Door

Australia Spent a Century Digging. Now It Wants to Refine.

Twelve Days to November 10: China’s 0.1% Rare Earth Rule Has Never Taken Effect

Everybody Has a Plan. Almost Nobody Has a Factory.

GM Co-Invented the NdFeB Magnet in 1983. It Has Cancelled Its Deal With the New U.S. Plant Built to Make Them.

TSMC Asks Suppliers to Build Motors Without Chinese Rare Earth Magnets

Japan Is Months From Running Out of Yttrium – and It Spent Sixteen Years Preparing for This

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