Spotlight on American Rare Earths, page-3103

The Wall Street Journal commentary by Michael Auslin has certainly put a spotlight on American Rare Earths. It appears to have come from an unexpected source given that Auslin is a historian at Stanford's Hoover Institution. Not a geologist, not a mining analyst but a historian albeit a historian who specialises in US policy in Asia and geopolitical issues in the Indo-Pacific region. The issues that he is undoubtedly interested in includes supply chain security underscored by the imperative to reduce dependency on critical materials none more so than rare earth elements.

It is becoming apparent that the US doesn't need a five year plan to sort out its critical metals supply chain, but sometime tomorrow or the next day would be fine. The spotlight in fact has been shone on Halleck Creek estimated - according to the article - to be the richest source of REE in the world and in particular rich in neodymium and praseodymium oxides.

The US played its heavy handed sanctions card against Russia. The prospect that other nations can play the sanctions game has apparently dawned on the US administration. Auslin makes the point that Washington will have to ramp up all kinds of production for national defense which could well make Halleck Creek as familiar to Americans as the Comstock Lode or the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay.

Ramping up implies the need for urgency in an industry where timelines are normally measured in years. The question is what happens now if Halleck Creek is transformed from just another mining project to a matter of national security.