Pini Althaus, chief executive officer of Cove Capital, explains the ramifications of China’s recent ban on exports to the U.S. of gallium, germanium, antimony and superhard materials, and how the U.S. can reduce its dependence on China for those critical minerals.

China’s export ban in early December of select critical materials has left the U.S. “in a very precarious position,” Althaus says. Such minerals are essential to the many aspects of modern technology, including artificial intelligence, defense manufacturing, and electric vehicles. 

The action raises the question of whether this is only the beginning of China restricting access to an increasing variety of its critical materials. But in any case, Althaus says, the U.S. needs to be developing its own independent sources, both from other countries and its own domestic production capability.

Australia and Canada are possibilities for future supply, with those countries offering tax incentives for critical minerals development. Also promising are five countries in central Asia — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukbekistan — with which the U.S. is beginning to engage for strategic minerals projects.

But simply turning to other countries isn’t the entire answer to ensuring a steady supply of critical minerals for the U.S., Althaus says. The country must also act to develop significant domestic production capabilities. To make that happen, he says, the U.S. must reform its lengthy and burdensome permitting process, which can require up to 15 years for the approval of mining projects, as well as curb the lawsuits filed by NGOs that are further delaying such initiatives.

The critical minerals supply chain is complex, involving four separate stages — mining, processing, metals and alloys production, and magnet manufacturing — and the U.S. needs to achieve advances in all of them, Althaus says.

“There’s no question in my mind that within a few years, the United States can be up to the level of China, not necessarily in terms of quantity but in terms of the ability to process materials,” Althaus says. “It’s just going to take a coordinated effort, and require a private-public partnership to achieve that.”