Chile Unveils National Critical Minerals Strategy Amid Global Demand Surge

This week, overseas prices continued to rise due to multiple factors, and shipments tightened further. Key developments emerged in raw ore mining across the US, Asia, and Latin America. The US government strengthened domestic rare earth capacity through large-scale funding, a Malaysia-France cooperation project achieved substantial progress, Brazil formulated a national rare earth strategy to unlock resource potential, and India considered adjustments to mining policies to enhance extraction efficiency. These measures collectively reflect countries' heightened focus on rare earth supply chain security, though technological, cost, and capacity bottlenecks remain widespread challenges.

Two informed sources revealed that to accelerate mining production, India is considering tightening its mineral rights auction policy to exclude mining enterprises that fail to apply for mining permits long after winning the auction. Official data show that since 2015, the Indian government has auctioned 594 mineral blocks, of which only 82 are in production, accounting for less than 14%. Sources said an internal government audit found that over the past five years, about 50 enterprises had not commenced mining after acquiring blocks, with some even failing to apply for mining permits. The two informed sources declined to be named as they were not authorized to speak. The Indian Ministry of Mines also did not respond to an email request for comment.

French rare earths specialist Caresterand Malaysian miner Malaco Mining Group have teamed up to work on a rare earths separation plant, and will also collaborate on rare earth mining,an adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron said in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. The cooperation agreement on the separation plant project, which is ir its"pilot stage",will include technology transfers to Malaco as well as expertise to ensure environmental compliance,said Benjamin Gallezot,an adviser on strategic minerals,after meeting with Malaysian government officials. Western countries are trying to develop sources of rare earths,used in electric vehicles,smartphones and other high-tech products,to reduce reliance on China,the world's largest rare earths producer. Malaysia is looking to foreign partners to help develop its domestic rareearths industry.The country has an estimated 16.1 million tonnes of rare earths deposits but lacks the technological capacity to mine and process them.