For many modern technologies, rare earths are indispensable. To maintain our independence from regions that hold a monopoly over these resources, we need to invest in suitable research infrastructures, says Jens Gutzmer, mineralogist and founding director of the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology.
History is repeating itself. Back in 2010, rare earths were the talk of the town: there were daily press reports on dysprosium and neodymium – and daily reminders that Europe was dependent on supplies from China. That year, for the first time, China used its monopoly over rare earths as a geostrategic tool and imposed an export ban. The resulting panic in industry and politics was stark evidence that the role of raw materials as the fundament of industrial production had been overlooked for too long.
The first step was to seek quickly available alternative sources. Geological exploration underwent a boom: it soon turned out that there is a large number of rare earth deposits around the globe – including in the European Union. Not only the economy, but governments too, were swift to react to scarce supplies of rare earths. For example, in 2010, the German government drew up a “National Raw Materials Strategy”, implemented funding programmes to stimulate targeted research and innovation, and established two new institutions: the German Raw Materials Agency in Berlin, which collects raw materials data and advises German industry, and the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology, which researches technologies for the efficient handling of mineral and metallic raw materials. Raw materials research is now an integral part of the Helmholtz Association’s portfolio.
China’s growing dominance
You would be forgiven for thinking that we had learned our lessons from the “rare earth” crisis in 2010 and that China’s monopoly had faded into perspective after 15 years. However, that could not be further from the truth. Prices for rare earths normalised as early as in 2012, when Chinese export restrictions were eased. That meant that importing rare earths from China was again cheaper than developing alternative sources of raw materials; as result, there was no longer a pressing need seen for a strategic alliance between industry and politics to ensure a resilient supply of raw materials. As a consequence, companies missed their opportunity to diversify their supply chains, establish strategic raw material depots, build up their own extraction and processing structures, invest in systematic recycling or set up substitutes for rare earths. Not even the promising findings of publicly funded research – on the recycling of neodymium magnets, for example – found their way into Germany’s industry: customers and capital were lacking for that. The regulation on critical raw materials adopted by the EU in 2023 has also failed to have any impact so far. China’s dominance along the rare earth value chain has grown even further over the past 15 years.
Innovation requires investment
And so, the inevitable has happened – history is repeating itself: since early 2025, China has been using its monopoly as a geostrategic tool for a second time – on this occasion, in its tariff conflict with the USA. And once again, industry and politics are showing little preparation. In the wake of this second supply crisis, we can now legitimately wonder whether publicly funded research in Germany will be able to play a different role in 2025 than it did in 2010. 15 years ago, there was some pioneering work to be done; research into raw materials had not been a priority for over 30 years. New competences and capacities had to be built up. Unlike in 2010, these are available today, which means that materials research in 2025 will require a much shorter start-up time – rapid progress can be expected. A broad portfolio of attractive research topics is on hand, ranging from materials research on substitution to the development of a sustainable circular economy for rare earths.
However, one important obstacle will continue to limit the effectiveness of research and innovation in 2025: the lack of suitable research infrastructures to rapidly scale up novel raw material technologies and prepare them for transfer to industry. Innovation needs investment, and this is particularly true of research into raw materials in Germany. Now is the time to make these investments if our approach to the use of rare earths as a geostrategic tool is to be more relaxed in the future.
Source: HZDR
