"China will remain in control of price which is unfortunate."
Disagree, the US $30kg MIA NdFeB subsidy (approx half the value high end mags) together with mooted CM national reserves has great potential to disrupt Chinese price control, and no doubt designed to do so, as protection for a fledgling NdFeB supply chain, or more fully, a fledgling PMM supply chain.
In fact it could be stated as Chinese LACK of control given the greatest influence on price is the rabid speculation that occurs as the broad, deep Chinese supply chain restocks to meet increased demand after long periods of greatly depleted inventory, as we are witnessing atm, hand to mouth, or small purchases to meet LT contracts.
Lack of a RE futures mkt suits the Chinese as it has made it incredibly difficult for ROW wannabes to raise the big chunks of capital required, particularly without downstream customers, but the flip side has been the inability to control the rabid speculation triggered by demand spikes. I've got it on good authority one Chinese billionaire still sitting on 600t of Dy purchased over a decade ago ~2x current values, no doubt there are piles of NdPr purchased well over $100kg still in speculators hands from the last run up.
Obviously this 'Wild West' approach is toxic to a fledgling supply chain so it's great to see (despite equally toxic politics) USG appears to be putting together a legislative framework to nurture CM supply chains, protect them from Chinese price pressures.
"The US House of Representatives Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the US and Chinese Communist Party recommended congress to authorize the creation of a critical mineral “Resilient Resource Reserve,” it said in a report with around 150 policy recommendations published on Tuesday December 12.The adoption of such a reserve is intended to “insulate American producers from price volatility and (the People’s Republic of China’s) weaponization of its dominance in critical mineral supply chains,” according to the report.
Such a reserve would be used to sustain the price of a critical mineral when prices fall below a certain threshold and would be replenished through contribution from companies when prices are “significantly” higher, the report stated.
The fund would target critical metals where there is high price volatility, low US domestic production and import dependence on China. Cobalt, manganese, light and heavy rare earths, vanadium, gallium, graphite, germanium and boron are critical minerals that fall under that category, according to the report.""Rare Earth Magnet Manufacturing Production Tax Credit Act (H.R. 2849) to establish a $20 per kilogram tax credit for light and heavy rare earth magnets manufactured in the US and a $30 per kilogram credit for US manufactured magnets where 90% of the component materials are produced domestically."https://www.fastmarkets.com/insights/us-committee-recommends-creation-of-critical-mineral-reserve/Not difficult to understand how the reserve would insulate against Chinese predatory pricing while the mag subsidy would sponsor critical mass DS, presumably including PMM. After wading thru over a decade of rhetoric, hot air, it's great to see a solid foundation emerging in the US, even if the EU still wallows in its own verbiage.
(20min delay)