Book Description
The Rare Earths Era: Strategic Metals Dependency & World Order addresses the centrality of 17 rare metallic elements necessary to the manufacture of a vast panoply of products developed through modern technology and in use worldwide—from smartphones, televisions, computers, and medical scanners to components of the most modern weapons systems in Western arsenals. Rare earths are hence crucial to strategic planning, whether for business, combating climate change, warfare, or ascendancy in world order. Called “rare earths” because of the low concentration in which they are found, which makes their extraction polluting and difficult, the miraculous properties of these elements can endow other materials with an unalterable super magnetism, an amazing hardness or robustness, a unique luminescence or fluorescence, and a special conductivity. The world as we now experience, enjoy and understand it is absolutely dependent on access to these metals in order to produce today’s technology. Without that, it’s goodbye to modernity. Rare earths may be key to understanding some of the most pressing geopolitical issues of our time. This book addresses the following questions: * How did the world become so dependent and addicted to Chinese rare earth metals? * Will critical minerals provide China with geopolitical leverage? * How will the global needs for rare earths impact the transition to clean energy? * What is the environmental impact of rare earths? * What is the role of the strategic minerals in the de-dollarization process? * Will we see new wars over rare earths resources? * Are critical minerals really on the radar of Western politicians?
