Location of World's Rare Earth Minerals

 Where are the World’s Rare Earth Metals Located? 

Rare earth minerals have become crucial to almost every sector and the global economy at large, drawing significant attention to the countries which possess these vital resources. Access to "rare earths" are now also central to many geopolitical disputes, due in part to President Donald Trump, who has said he will make the continuation of US aid to Ukraine contingent on access to the country's resources. Donald Trump has also said that he wants to buy Greenland, the autonomous territory of Denmark, citing national security concerns as the chief reason for such expansionist motives. Greenland is located in a strategic position for the US, in terms of both missile defence and maritime trade, the latter of which will become increasingly important as Arctic sea ice continues to melt, exacerbated by climate change.

Despite their name, rare earth minerals are relatively abundant the world over, but not often found in concentrated deposits. This makes extraction and refinement a complex and costly process. Rare earth minerals, a blanket term for 17 metallic elements found in the earth's crust, possess unique properties such as magnetic capabilities, electrical conductivity and resistance to corrosion. This makes them integral for everything from cigarette lighters to smartphones and missile-guiding systems. Due to tectonic plate movements that create favourable conditions for mining, certain areas such as north and southern Africa, as well as the western coast of South America, have concentrated deposits of rare earth minerals. Their importance to technology has imbued them with a particular, and increasing, value to the global economy, sparking a modern variant of "resource wars." Desire for control over these is currently fuelling unrest in Central Africa, and also thought to be behind Trump's interest in gaining control of Greenland, a substantial hub of rare earth deposits. Observers also highlight, however, that Greenland is known to have an abundance of important rare earth elements. These deposits have become a highly coveted commodity, used in electronics and for the production of batteries vital to the green tech transition. Data from the US Geological Survey (USGS) shows that Greenland has the eighth largest reserves of rare earths in the world, at 1.5 million tonnes. This is similar to the known reserves of the US (1.8 MT).

The map based on the most recent data from the US Geological Survey, displays the world's major deposits, classified by the type of mineral as as well the deposit type, the rock formation in which the material is found. Morocco's zinc deposits, primarily in easy-to-mine sedimentary and hydrothermal formations, has seen it become an outsized player in the export of this versatile metal, widely used in batteries as well as pharmaceutical products. The presence of valuable minerals in South Africa has contributed to the country having a stronger and more diversified economy than much of the African continent, though governance issues and economic mismanagement has prevented neighbouring Zimbabwe from capitalizing in a similar way. Access to valuable minerals may have also contributed to Trump's desire to buy Greenland. As well as oil and natural gas, the self-governing Danish territory contains large deposits of elements essential for various advanced technologies, particularly those used in electronics, renewable energy and defence applications.

Ukraine is also home to a number of critical mineral reserves, including lithium and titanium, a lightweight and corrosion-resistant metal employed in the construction of aircraft, surgical instruments and chemical processing equipment. The value of Ukraine's largely untapped deposits has been in the sights of Trump, who has requested that the US be granted access to these in exchange for continued military aid. This proposal was presented to Ukrainian officials and would allow American companies to hold a 50% stake in Ukraine's rare earth mineral deposits as compensation for both past and future US military support.

Trucks haul away ore from a pit in Tenke Fungurume Mine, one of the largest copper and cobalt mines in the world, owned by Chinese company CMOC, in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo. China remains the global powerhouse in rare earth elements, holding 44 million metric tons and remaining the world's leading rare earths producer. Its dominance could potentially intensify US push to expand its mineral reserves, given Beijing has in the past boasted about its reserves, considering these a source over leverage given the potential impact of export limitations on global prices. Sophia Kalantzakos, professor of Environmental Studies and Public Policy at NYU Abu Dhabi, said "[Rare earths] are very valuable because of their various tech applications, military applications, renewable [energy] applications; You name it, they contain rare earths." "At the moment we have enough rare earths," she added. "But as there's this huge economic competition happening, the West has woken up to the fact that China controls the entire supply chains from mine to market." China has by far the largest rare earth reserves at an estimated 44 MT, accounting for nearly 40 % of known global rare earth reserves.

Robert Muggah, a fellow at Princeton University, and Rafal Rohozinski, senior fellow at Canada's Centre for Governance Innovation, recently wrote that Ukraine's mineral resources "are not only pivotal to Ukraine's sovereignty but also to Europe's energy independence and the competition between the US and China for technological dominance. "Control over these resources is a decisive if underrated factor in shaping the conflict's trajectory and will almost certainly influence the contours of its resolution." President Trump said that Ukraine has "tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earth, oil and gas, and other things." Trump added that he wants "the equivalent of $500 billion of rare earth" from the country in return for continued assistance, and that Ukraine had "essentially agreed to do that." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country was not ready to sign any agreement on this, as the proposal "is not ready to protect us, our interest." However, Trump said that the US and Ukraine were "pretty close to a deal" granting access to its rare earth minerals"

While Greenland has significant reserves, USGS data also shows that no mining activities for rare earths were carried out there in 2023. Although Greenlandic companies had turned to China for investment for mining initially, projects came to a standstill after the 2021 Greenlandic elections. Voters decided that while mining could be a step towards greater economic development and even independence from Denmark, the costs to the environment and potential disruption to traditional practices would too heavily outweigh any benefits. A main sticking point here was that the major mine - Kvanefjeld, near the town of Narsaq - intended for rare earths extraction would also produce radioactive uranium, which locals feared would result in radioactive dust falling on nearby communities and farmland. The vote led to a ban on uranium mining and left rare earth extraction projects on hold. In 2021, Greenland also stopped all plans for future oil and gas exploration.