On April 26th, the Wall Street Journal published an analysis article titled "Why is it not easy for the United States to build a rare earth supply chain to challenge China's dominant position?" The full text is as follows:
This week, bipartisan members of the US Congress will propose a bill to provide tax credits for the establishment of rare earth magnet production in the United States; Rare earth is one of the key materials for the transformation of clean energy. However, the process of establishing a local supply chain for MP Materials, a rare earth material company in the United States, highlights the challenges faced by American manufacturers.
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A draft bill seen by The Wall Street Journal proposes a credit of $20 per kilogram for rare earth magnets produced in the United States, while manufacturers who purchase 90% of their components from American suppliers may be eligible for a credit of $30 per kilogram. This tax credit policy is planned to gradually withdraw before December 31, 2035. The bill will be initiated by Pennsylvania Republican Representative Guy Reschenthaler and California Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell.
This bill, known as the Rare Earth Magnet Manufacturing Production Tax Credit Act of 2023, is another incentive measure in the United States to encourage localization of rare earth production. Currently, rare earths and their origins are receiving increasing attention.
Rare earth elements such as neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium can produce permanent magnets, which are important materials for electric vehicles and offshore wind turbine engines and are increasingly used in robots. According to experts, with the increasing momentum of clean energy technology application, the importance of rare earths will increase. Wood Mackenzie's Rare Earths Market Service estimates that the demand for rare earth oxides will be 171300 tons in 2022 and is expected to increase to 238700 tons by 2030.
At the same time, as the value of rare earth elements has doubled in recent years due to their magnetic and conductive properties, the Mountain Pass mine, located on the border between California and Nevada and once the world's largest rare earth producer, is also striving to restore its former glory. Now, the mine wants to return to the production track of rare earth magnets, providing the United States with its own rare earth supply chain for energy transformation, covering the entire process from mining to magnet production.
Shortly after the gold rush in the 1870s, production began at the Mangting Mountain Pass mine, mainly mining for gold, copper, lead, and zinc. Afterwards, production gradually changed, and from the 1960s to the 1990s, the Mangting Mountain Pass mine was the main source of rare earths worldwide. After encountering some financial and environmental challenges at the beginning of this century, the mining of the mine was suspended in 2002, and was later acquired and restarted by Las Vegas based rare earth producer MP Materials Corp. in 2017.
James Litinsky, CEO of MP Materials, said, 'The Mountain Pass can |
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