Rare earths, graphite: US ORE Act aims to reduce dependence on China

The On-shoring Rare Earths (ORE) Act was introduced earlier this month in a bid to end US dependence on China for rare earth elements and other critical minerals used in the manufacture of domestic defence technologies and high-tech products. It hopes to do this by encouraging a supply chain for these minerals within the USA, and by forcing the Department of Defense (DOD) to source these minerals domestically.

The US Department of the Interior published a list of 35 critical minerals in May 2018, which included the 17 rare earth elements (which are critical for permanent magnets and many military technologies) as well as graphite, cobalt, manganese and lithium (all of which are critical to the booming lithium-ion battery sector, with growing use in EVs and energy storage).

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China dominates the production of rare earths, accounting for 86% of total refined output in 2019, and 99% of the heavy rare earths of particular use in US defence applications and critical technologies. While it would be strategically beneficial for the USA to develop its own domestic capabilities, rare earth supply chains are long and technically demanding. Establishing raw material availability outside of China would require the in-tandem development of alloy and magnet producing capacity in order to circumvent the major raw-material demand hub: again, China. The emergence of sizeable production capacity for high-quality rare earth permanent magnets and other high-tech rare earth components in the USA would not only need significant technical knowledge, but also considerable capital and time to design, commission, construct and ramp up.

The graphite industry is equally reliant on China, with the country producing 53% of the world’s raw natural and synthetic graphite in 2019. More importantly, China produces 100% of spherical graphite, a heavily processed product used almost exclusively in lithium-ion battery anodes. The USA, meanwhile, has no domestic production of natural graphite and accounts for just 9% of global synthetic graphite output. Although spherical graphite production is under development in the USA and other countries outside China, barriers to entry – both monetary and environmental – are high.

While lithium often steals the limelight because of its role in lithium-ion batteries, the use of graphite can be 10 times that of lithium in this application. Lithium, cobalt, and manganese are all critical in lithium-ion batteries and greater control of these supply chains would be a strategic step for the USA, but a massive, capital-intensive undertaking.