China has gained control not only of critical minerals, but also their production. A new technique could solve both of these problems.
One flash is all it takes.
That’s how James Tour believes America can tackle China’s rare earth dominance.
All he needs is discarded electronics—of which the United States has mountains. And from these scraps, the Rice University chemist and nanotechnologist has pioneered a way to quickly extract rare earth metals.
“We can pull out one metal and then the next,” he told The Epoch Times. “It’s really that simple.”
Tour’s solution is flash Joule heating: rapidly heating up the materials to thousands of degrees to vaporize the metals. Mixed with chlorine gas, the vapors turn into chlorides that emerge at different temperatures.
Just like in an incandescent light bulb, the technique works by passing an electric current through the raw material, Tour said. But whereas the former channels a steady electric current to create a perpetual glow, in treating metals, the energy arrives in short bursts, dialing up heat in milliseconds.
“Metals are infinitely recyclable, so you can recycle it, recycle it again,” he said. And whereas the traditional way of distilling metals is rather “messy,” Tour said, what he proposes is all about simplicity.
“You flash and you’re done.”
Speed is now more critical than ever. The United States is racing against time to reshore rare earth production, spurred in part by China’s October threat to dramatically curtail access.
With a one year truce in hand, Washington now has a short window to close the gap. Getting a mine up and running can take 15 years.
Tour says his technology would put the United States on a faster track. “It would give us a map to get independent,” he said.
His invention is modular, he said. “You can get these things going for a few tens of millions of dollars. That’s not very much when it comes to this type of manufacturing.”
US Dominance Lost to China
Rare earths, a subgroup of 17 critical minerals, serve as essential components in electric vehicles, wind turbines, smartphones, and missiles.
China currently sits at the center of this vital global production chain. It makes more than 90 percent of the world’s rare earth magnets, according to International Energy Agency data. China is also the sole supplier for certain elements such as samarium, used in fighter jets and nuclear reactors for its high heat resistance.
This dominance comes from decades of strategic investment, lavish state subsidies, and aggressive market manipulation that stifled foreign competition.
Decisions made in the United States also played a part.
Until 1991, the country was a leading rare earth producer, with the Mountain Pass mine in California supplying most of the world. Environmental troubles then shuttered the mine for years at the same time China began to gain a foothold.
Against the Pentagon’s objections, the U.S. government greenlit the 1995 sale of Magnequench, then the industry leader in rare earth magnets, to a Chinese front group, effectively handing over critical defense technology and manufacturing to China.
In 2004, Magnequench shuttered its Indiana plant and moved operations to China. Beijing started taxing rare earth exports the following year.
Fast forward 20 years, the United States is now beholden to Chinese minerals.
“We didn’t realize that we were selling something that turned out to be very important to our country,” Tour said.
By Eva Fu
