Rare earth metals are essential in modern electronics, as they provide the magnetic, optical, and electrical properties needed for key functions, such as motors and sensors. They form components in smartphones, TVs, computers, electric cars, wind turbines, MRI scanners, servers, and many other everyday devices. China dominates the global supply of these minerals, producing 98% of the world’s gallium and 54% of its germanium. A key reason is that it possesses the only specialised equipment required to extract and process certain rare earth metals (machinery it has banned from export) along with the highly trained workforce needed to operate it. Apple is investing $500 million in the mining company MP Materials to secure a domestic supply of rare earth magnets for its devices. The money will be used to build a manufacturing line for Apple-specific neodymium magnets and a recycling line for rare earth metals.MP Materials operates the only rare earth mine in the US, based in Mountain Pass, California. The new, commercial-scale recycling line will also be based here, which will take in material from discarded electronics, industrial waste, and other rare metal feedstocks, and reprocess it for use in new Apple products. Is this a move to reduce dependency on China ?
