None of those methods protect IP from third parties who are...

None of those methods protect IP from third parties who are working independently toward the same goal. But I'm not the one who brought up the subject -- someone else suggested that we would first learn the results after a patent is granted, usually a few years after the public application is made, in the US. To me, it's like discussing questions about how to tweak the ingredients for a cake, then how long to bake it at what temperature. If there are any patents involved in rare earth refining, they expired long ago.