Rare Earth samarium

choi

Keith Bradsher, 中国对稀土矿产垄断暴露西方军事软肋. 纽约时报中文网, June 10, 2025
https://cn.nytimes.com/business/ ... -fighter-jets/dual/

, which was translated from

Keith Bradsher, Western Militaries Desperately Hut Rare Mineral. New York Times, June 10, 2025, at page B1 (section B is Business).

Quote:

(a) "China produces the entire world's supply of samarium, a particularly obscure rare earth metal used almost entirely in military applications. Samarium magnets can withstand temperatures hot enough to melt lead without losing their magnetic force. They are essential for withstanding the heat of fast-moving electric motors in cramped spaces like the nose cones of missiles.

"On April 4, China halted exports of seven kinds of rare earth metals, as well as magnets made from them. China controls most of the world’s supply of these metals and magnets. China’s Ministry of Commerce declared that these materials had both civilian and military uses, and any further exports would be allowed only with specially issued licenses. * * *

"The ministry has begun issuing some licenses for magnets that include two of the restricted rare earths, dysprosium and terbium, to automakers in Europe and the United States. Magnets with these two rare earths, which are used in brake and steering systems, can withstand the heat of a nearby gasoline engine but cannot reliably tolerate the greater heat encountered in military applications. * * *

(b) "The main American user of samarium is Lockheed Martin, an aerospace and military contractor that puts about 50 pounds of samarium magnets in each F-35 fighter jet. * * *

(c) "Of the seven kinds of rare earth metals restricted by China, the demand for six of them is largely civilian, said Stanley Trout, a metallurgist at the Metropolitan State University of Denver who has specialized in samarium magnets since the 1970s.

"Samarium is different. It is 'almost exclusively used for military purposes,' he said.

" * * * low-cost samarium has come from China for many years [to the US], Mr Trout said.

(d) " * * * American dependence on Samarium supplies from refineries in Baotou, a flat, dry industrial city at the southern edge of the Gobi Desert. * * *

Note:
(a)
(i) Note the singular form of rare earth in the English title.
(ii) The cn.nytimes.com translated only half of the English article. I reproduce below the second half, which is not informative.
(b) samarium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samarium
(table: Pronunciation; section 5 History: name)
(c) "The melting point of lead—at 327.5°C (621.5 °F)[33]—is very low compared to most metals.[24]" en.wikipedia.org for lead.
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* * *
Concerns about dependence on China for samarium are not new. Starting in the 1970s, militaries in the West depended on a single chemical factory in La Rochelle, France, that refined samarium from ore mined in Australia. But that factory closed in 1994, partly because of pollution concerns. The factory also could not compete with inexpensive production in Baotou, a city in China’s Inner Mongolia region with a history of weak environmental enforcement, even by China’s standards.

In 2009, U.S. lawmakers became worried about American dependence on samarium supplies from refineries in Baotou, a flat, dry industrial city at the southern edge of the Gobi Desert. Congress ordered the Defense Department to come up with a plan by the following year to address the issue.

That was before China halted shipments to Japan of all 17 kinds of rare earths for two months in late 2010 as part of a territorial dispute. A $1 billion American effort began soon after to repair, expand and reopen the sole U.S. rare earths mine, in Mountain Pass, Calif., which had suspended operations in 1998 following a pipeline leak.

Rare earth metals are found all over the world, but seldom in concentrations high enough to allow for efficient mining. They are tightly bound together, and breaking those chemical bonds can require a sequence of 100 or more chemical processes using extremely powerful acids.

The Mountain Pass mine had not previously tried to pry samarium loose from its ore, and did not start doing so as part of its expansion. The mine reopened in 2014, producing other rare earths, but closed a year later and went bankrupt because it could not compete with Chinese production.

Jay Truesdale, a former American diplomat who played a senior role at the State Department on critical minerals policy in 2014 and 2015, said that the focus during the Obama administration had been on using World Trade Organization rules to compel China to sell its rare earths.

But during his first term, President Trump considerably reduced U.S. participation in the W.T.O., and relations with China worsened. When the Biden administration took office, senior officials became more concerned about samarium.

A new company, MP Materials, had acquired the Mountain Pass mine and resumed operations there in 2018. But it initially shipped ore to China for processing.

The Defense Department awarded $35 million to MP in early 2022 to start production of samarium and several other rare earths that China has now restricted. MP then spent $100 million, using a lot of its own money, to buy the necessary equipment to process them, said James Litinsky, the company’s chief executive.

The Biden administration soon after awarded $351 million Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths to build a facility in Texas that would also produce samarium.

Mr. Litinsky said that the market for samarium is so small that it would be uneconomical to have two producers in the United States. So MP never installed its samarium processing equipment, which is still in storage.

But Lynas never built its Texas factory, after a permit it had for rare earth mining in Malaysia that was in limbo was eventually renewed. Lynas did not respond to emails and phone calls for comment.

MP is only willing to install its samarium processing equipment now if promised better financial terms by customers, Mr. Litinsky noted. “We felt very burnt by the whole thing,” he said.