U.S. "Pioneering" Rare Earths... 60 Years Ago? A History Lesson...
https://x.com/StarboySAR/status/1981581930161426837
U.S. "Pioneering" Rare Earths... 60 Years Ago? A History Lesson...
So, U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer says America "pioneered" rare earth tech 60 years ago and transferred some of that tech to China. Cute 
Sure, by that logic, the United States can also claim ownership of the entire world's plane technology because the Wright brothers invented the first plane, but try flying a 1903 biplane instead of an F-35 today.
Greer's trip down memory lane isn't an economic argument; it's a political one. The U.S. is now attempting to politically knee cap the growth of a competitor it cannot economically stifle. It's an admission that China's model of focused industrial development works too well.
According to a recent analysis, the U.S. isn't just a little behind; it's decades behind.
The real challenge lies not in mining, but in refining—a process that demands a sophisticated, integrated industrial ecosystem spanning chemistry, metallurgy, power generation, logistics, and more.
Some argue that since the U.S. once had a functioning rare earth industry in the 1970s, reviving it should be straightforward. This view fundamentally misunderstands how both technology and industry have evolved. Rare earth applications today—powering everything from F-35 fighter jets and hypersonic missiles to advanced semiconductors and electric vehicles—are light-years ahead of what existed half a century ago.
Would anyone seriously suggest installing 1970s-era computers in modern warships or stealth aircraft? Of course not. The same logic applies to rare earth materials
Back then, the dominant refining methods in the U.S.—ion exchange and fractional crystallization—were inefficient, costly, and yielded low-purity outputs: around 95–98% for light rare earths and just 90% for heavy ones. That simply won’t cut it in today’s high-tech world, where purity levels of 99.99% (4N) or higher are necessary
China’s Technological Leap: The Cascade Extraction Breakthrough
While the West stagnated, China made a quantum leap. In the early 1970s, Chinese scientists Xu Guangxian and Gao Xiaoxia pioneered the cascade extraction method—a revolutionary technique that enabled low-cost, high-efficiency, high-purity separation of rare earth elements. By 1975, they had built the world’s first cascade extraction production line, achieving 99.99% purity for praseodymium and neodymium in a single pass—elements notoriously difficult to separate.
Xu didn’t stop there. Between 1975 and 1978, he developed calculation tables covering all 15 lanthanides plus yttrium, proving that the same principles could purify every rare earth element efficiently. This wasn’t just an incremental improvement—it was a paradigm shift.
The impact was immediate and global. Processing time dropped from weeks to hours. Labor and production costs plummeted—by as much as 90%. By the 1980s and 1990s, China was producing two-thirds of the world’s rare earths, and prices collapsed by 70%. Outdated, high-cost operations in the U.S. and Europe shuttered one after another.
From that point on, China didn’t just participate in the rare earth market—it dominated the entire supply chain
The Modern Engineering Abyss: Why Copying China Isn’t Enough
The cascade extraction method may sound like a textbook concept, but its real-world implementation is extraordinarily complex. It requires decades of accumulated engineering know-how (China has over 30 universities offering advanced degrees and PhDs in Rare Earth and Superconducting Materials) trained technicians, and continuously optimized production lines. Even if the U.S. and its allies understand the theory, replicating the full system—down to the nuanced operational details—is virtually impossible without China’s industrial ecosystem and human capital
Remember 2010? When the Obama administration launched a major push to rebuild U.S. rare earth independence, passing the Rare Earth and Critical Materials Resurgence Act. The goal? Achieve self-sufficiency by 2025. Over 400 companies were mobilized, billions were spent—and yet, 15 years later, Result? Zero. Except the U.S. dependence on Chinese rare earths has only deepened
Today, American companies like MP Materials and Peak Resources are often cited as proof of America’s rare earth capabilities. But the reality is stark: they mine ore—they don’t refine it. Their raw materials are shipped to China for processing before returning as usable products. In essence, they’re miners, not manufacturers. Why? Because the U.S. can’t reliably hit 3N purity, let alone 5N or 6N
And those 6N+ rare earths?
They’re essential for:
Hypersonic missiles
Stealth fighters
Advanced radar
Next-gen semiconductors
Only China mass-produces them.
And for 7N purity? Only gallium is produced commercially—and again, only in China
So no, Greer—this isn’t “coercion.”
It’s 40 years of U.S. industrial decay meeting China’s relentless engineering discipline. And these purity standards? They were established by China not the U.S.
Could the U.S. produce some rare earth material quickly? Sure—if purity and performance don’t matter. But the rare earths that power next-generation military systems, AI chips, and green energy infrastructure? Those require a level of refinement and industrial integration that America simply doesn’t possess—and won’t for the foreseeable future.
Rebuilding a rare earth industry isn’t just about opening mines. It’s about reconstructing an entire industrial civilization. And if the U.S. can’t even unify its power grid or modernize its infrastructure in 20 years, how realistic is it to expect a rare earth renaissance in the U.S.?
Good luck with rebuilding your grid, supply chain, and workforce. This is what it looks like if China decides to de-risk and decouple from the U.S. and its allies
Sure, by that logic, the United States can also claim ownership of the entire world's plane technology because the Wright brothers invented the first plane, but try flying a 1903 biplane instead of an F-35 today.
Greer's trip down memory lane isn't an economic argument; it's a political one. The U.S. is now attempting to politically knee cap the growth of a competitor it cannot economically stifle. It's an admission that China's model of focused industrial development works too well.
According to a recent analysis, the U.S. isn't just a little behind; it's decades behind.
The real challenge lies not in mining, but in refining—a process that demands a sophisticated, integrated industrial ecosystem spanning chemistry, metallurgy, power generation, logistics, and more.
Some argue that since the U.S. once had a functioning rare earth industry in the 1970s, reviving it should be straightforward. This view fundamentally misunderstands how both technology and industry have evolved. Rare earth applications today—powering everything from F-35 fighter jets and hypersonic missiles to advanced semiconductors and electric vehicles—are light-years ahead of what existed half a century ago.
Would anyone seriously suggest installing 1970s-era computers in modern warships or stealth aircraft? Of course not. The same logic applies to rare earth materials
Back then, the dominant refining methods in the U.S.—ion exchange and fractional crystallization—were inefficient, costly, and yielded low-purity outputs: around 95–98% for light rare earths and just 90% for heavy ones. That simply won’t cut it in today’s high-tech world, where purity levels of 99.99% (4N) or higher are necessary
China’s Technological Leap: The Cascade Extraction Breakthrough
While the West stagnated, China made a quantum leap. In the early 1970s, Chinese scientists Xu Guangxian and Gao Xiaoxia pioneered the cascade extraction method—a revolutionary technique that enabled low-cost, high-efficiency, high-purity separation of rare earth elements. By 1975, they had built the world’s first cascade extraction production line, achieving 99.99% purity for praseodymium and neodymium in a single pass—elements notoriously difficult to separate.
Xu didn’t stop there. Between 1975 and 1978, he developed calculation tables covering all 15 lanthanides plus yttrium, proving that the same principles could purify every rare earth element efficiently. This wasn’t just an incremental improvement—it was a paradigm shift.
The impact was immediate and global. Processing time dropped from weeks to hours. Labor and production costs plummeted—by as much as 90%. By the 1980s and 1990s, China was producing two-thirds of the world’s rare earths, and prices collapsed by 70%. Outdated, high-cost operations in the U.S. and Europe shuttered one after another.
From that point on, China didn’t just participate in the rare earth market—it dominated the entire supply chain
The Modern Engineering Abyss: Why Copying China Isn’t Enough
The cascade extraction method may sound like a textbook concept, but its real-world implementation is extraordinarily complex. It requires decades of accumulated engineering know-how (China has over 30 universities offering advanced degrees and PhDs in Rare Earth and Superconducting Materials) trained technicians, and continuously optimized production lines. Even if the U.S. and its allies understand the theory, replicating the full system—down to the nuanced operational details—is virtually impossible without China’s industrial ecosystem and human capital
Remember 2010? When the Obama administration launched a major push to rebuild U.S. rare earth independence, passing the Rare Earth and Critical Materials Resurgence Act. The goal? Achieve self-sufficiency by 2025. Over 400 companies were mobilized, billions were spent—and yet, 15 years later, Result? Zero. Except the U.S. dependence on Chinese rare earths has only deepened
Today, American companies like MP Materials and Peak Resources are often cited as proof of America’s rare earth capabilities. But the reality is stark: they mine ore—they don’t refine it. Their raw materials are shipped to China for processing before returning as usable products. In essence, they’re miners, not manufacturers. Why? Because the U.S. can’t reliably hit 3N purity, let alone 5N or 6N
And those 6N+ rare earths?
They’re essential for:
Hypersonic missiles
Stealth fighters
Advanced radar
Next-gen semiconductors
Only China mass-produces them.
And for 7N purity? Only gallium is produced commercially—and again, only in China
So no, Greer—this isn’t “coercion.”
It’s 40 years of U.S. industrial decay meeting China’s relentless engineering discipline. And these purity standards? They were established by China not the U.S.
Could the U.S. produce some rare earth material quickly? Sure—if purity and performance don’t matter. But the rare earths that power next-generation military systems, AI chips, and green energy infrastructure? Those require a level of refinement and industrial integration that America simply doesn’t possess—and won’t for the foreseeable future.
Rebuilding a rare earth industry isn’t just about opening mines. It’s about reconstructing an entire industrial civilization. And if the U.S. can’t even unify its power grid or modernize its infrastructure in 20 years, how realistic is it to expect a rare earth renaissance in the U.S.?
Good luck with rebuilding your grid, supply chain, and workforce. This is what it looks like if China decides to de-risk and decouple from the U.S. and its allies
posted by Satish Sharma at
12:53
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