GEOPOLITICS
Beijing Wants a Piece of America's Rare Earth Mine. The Pentagon Already Owns One.
Summer of 2005. A Chinese oil company called CNOOC bid $18.5 billion for Unocal, a mid-size American energy firm. Congress erupted. The House passed a resolution to block the deal. CNOOC pulled its offer in August. Chevron swooped in and bought Unocal instead. The lesson was simple: Beijing cannot buy strategic American assets without a fight.
Twenty-one years later, Beijing is trying again. This time it's not oil. It's rare earths.
Reuters reported on September 18 that China Rare Earth Group is in talks to buy Shenghe Resources. China Rare Earth Group is state-owned, formed in 2021 by merging several of Beijing's biggest rare earth producers into one company. Shenghe is a Shanghai-listed mining and trading firm. It also owns about 3% of MP Materials, the company that runs Mountain Pass in California. That's the only active rare earth mine in the United States.
Here is why the deal matters. The Pentagon is MP Materials' largest shareholder. The Defense Department bought $400 million in preferred stock and warrants last year to help MP build a mine-to-magnet supply chain on American soil. If China Rare Earth Group buys Shenghe, Beijing would hold an indirect stake in the same company the U.S. military is backing.
Think about that for a second. The Pentagon and Beijing, sitting on the same cap table. A 3% stake doesn't give China a board seat or veto power. But it puts a state-owned Chinese rare earth company inside the ownership structure of America's most important rare earth mine. In 2005, Congress stopped CNOOC from buying an oil company. This deal is smaller and more indirect. Whether it draws the same kind of attention depends on what happens in the next forty-nine days.
The timing makes it sharper. Xi Jinping meets Donald Trump at the White House in two days. The Busan truce — the deal struck last November that froze both sides' export controls — expires on November 10. Both sides want to extend it. But as the World Economic Forum reported this week, they disagree on how long. Beijing wants the freeze to last through the end of the Trump term. Washington wants a shorter leash.
That's the surface talk. Underneath it, both countries are locking in position. The Pentagon bought into MP Materials. Beijing is buying into Shenghe to get a seat at the same table. One country still refines about 90% of the world's rare earths. Every move counts — especially two days before a summit and forty-nine days before a truce expires.
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| Source: Shanghai Metals Market · Assessed Sep 3, 2026 · Domestic China · VAT excluded |
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SPONSORED
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ALSO THIS WEEK
SUMMIT
Both Sides Want the Busan Truce Extended. They Can't Agree on How Long.
Analysts across CSIS, the World Economic Forum, and ChinaFile all reached the same conclusion this week: the Busan truce will probably be extended at Thursday's summit. The truce, struck on November 10, 2025, suspended both Washington's Affiliates Rule and China's October 9 rare earth export controls for one year. Scott Kennedy at CSIS told WEF that Beijing wants the freeze to last through the end of the Trump administration. Washington reportedly prefers a shorter renewal. If the truce lapses on November 10, the full export-control package — covering rare earth processing equipment, technology, and separated heavy rare earth oxides — snaps back into force.
RECYCLING
Geomega's Rare Earth Recycling Plant Nears Commissioning in Quebec
Geomega Resources (TSXV: GMA) said its rare earth magnet recycling demo plant in Saint-Hubert, Quebec, is almost finished and should start commissioning in November. The company got an environmental permit in June that allows operations through 2028. The plant is designed to prove that Geomega's chemical process works at larger than lab scale. Unlike the acid-heavy methods common in China, Geomega's approach avoids harsh solvents. Geomega is also talking to potential feed suppliers and toll-processing partners. If the plant works, it becomes one of the first recycling-to-oxide operations in North America.
GOVERMENT
DOE Asks Industry: What Would You Do With Surplus Critical Minerals at Old Weapons Sites?
The Department of Energy's cleanup office released an expression of interest on September 18. It's asking American companies what they would do with surplus critical minerals sitting at old DOE sites. The list includes aluminum, copper, lead, platinum, silver, tungsten, vanadium, lithium hydride, and others. Sites like Paducah in Kentucky have been piling up these materials for decades. The EOI is not a sale — it's a test of whether private industry can find a use for what the government already has. If it works, it's a new domestic source that requires zero mining.
SPONSORED
Everyone is talking about Trump's new tech law.
Financial Times says this tech puts America "on the verge of a financial revolution."
Yahoo Finance says it could unlock $400 trillion.
Jeff Brown was consulted by Congressional offices in Washington, D.C. to advise on it.
He says the real number is even bigger — as much as $2.6 quadrillion could pour onto a new type of investment exchange in the days ahead…
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AROUND THE MARKET
MP Materials Falls 13% in 30 Days Despite 89% Revenue Growth
MP shares traded at $49.38 on September 16, down 13% in a month. Q2 revenue hit $108.5 million, up 89% year over year. The sell-off reflects summit uncertainty and the November 10 deadline.
CSIS Analyzes Maritime Issues in the South China Sea
Harrison Prétat at CSIS published a September 15 analysis of maritime issues and the South China Sea. The piece lands nine days before the summit.
NdPr Complex Posts First Monthly Decline Since May
NdPr alloy fell to $131.02/kg, down 1.98%. Neodymium metal dropped to $141.79/kg, down 2.54%. Praseodymium fell to $150.69/kg, down 2.37%. The pullback was broad, not driven by any single element.
Scandium Price Drops 7.4% as Chinese Aluminum Demand Cools
Scandium metal fell to $3,087.59/kg in September, down 7.36% from August. Weaker demand from aluminum-scandium alloy makers in China drove the decline.
