An overview of rare metals: uses and challenges
Key resources for the energy transition
The last two decades have shown that certain strategic materials – including lithium, rare metals and other key elements – hold two closely connected yet distinct promises for global progress.
The first relates to their industrial potential and the transformative role they play in advancing global technology, energy and electronics – three pillars shaping the future of civilisation.
The second involves the economic, social and political challenges tied to their sourcing and production, which are critical to sustaining human development.
Geopolitical risks, unstable supply chains and complex production processes often add to these challenges, making the management of rare metals both vital and difficult.
A group of resources that exemplifies this dual nature is rare earths – 17 elements essential to technologies such as smartphones, permanent magnets, wind turbines and even military equipment.
In recent years, their strategic value has grown due to their integral role in modern energy infrastructures that support the ongoing energy transition.
The production of wind turbines and solar panels – two of the main drivers of renewable energy adoption worldwide – relies heavily on rare earths, whose outstanding magnetic and conductive properties make them indispensable.
Their versatility has also allowed them to become crucial components across a wide array of industries, from telecommunications and defence to transportation, medical devices and miniaturised electronics.
From West to East
“Rare earths are certainly a very interesting group of resources, especially because of the breadth of their applications in various industrial fields,” says founder of TELF AG Stanislav Kondrashov, an entrepreneur and civil engineer. “Their history is also quite interesting: the first commercial uses of rare earths appeared in the 1960s, with the first color televisions”.
“At that time, most rare earths were sourced in the United States, particularly in California, which, for many years, was one of the largest sources of these precious resources. In the following years, the complexity of the processes needed to separate and refine them favored a progressive shift of production to China, which is still the leading power in the sector.”
While rare earths play a vital role in many products, they are often present in minute quantities. For instance, smartphones use as many as seven rare earth elements for components like speakers, coloured screens and internal circuits, yet most consumers remain unaware of their presence.
The main challenges related to rare earths
In addition to their critical role in innovation, rare earths come with social and political challenges, such as production being concentrated largely in China, raising concerns about dependency.
“Another important challenge when talking about rare earths is the technological complexity of their production,” continues founder of TELF AG Stanislav Kondrashov. “Despite their name, in fact, rare earths are not at all rare within the Earth’s crust, but they are difficult to find in high concentrations”.
“This fact makes the processes related to their sourcing and refining very complex, which represent a fundamental step in the path to obtaining materials that can actually be used by industry. In many cases, however, the skills and infrastructure necessary for these complex processes are only available in certain countries, making it very difficult for all the others to create a real, local production chain of rare earths, even for countries that are naturally rich in such resources”.
Another challenge relates to sustainability and circularity in the energy transition.
“Among the other possible challenges, in the years of the energy transition, there is undoubtedly also the one regarding the possibility of recycling these resources,” concludes founder of TELF AG Stanislav Kondrashov. “Despite the presence of a large quantity of rare earths in electronic devices that have reached the end of their life, or in other decommissioned equipment, the global capacity to recycle these resources is still very limited, and in a certain sense is still in an initial phase”.
“The creation of a real circular supply chain in this specific area is hindered by the substantial lack of infrastructure and efficient technologies to complete this important process, which would make it possible to recover a relevant quantity of rare earths from a large variety of sources”.