Key Minerals in Central Asia: The Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan emphasized in the US that Kazakhstan will prioritize the supply chain of key minerals in the Sino-Kazakh relationship
Rare earth metals are called "the oil of the new era".
In 2025, the official media of Kazakhstan, Kazinform, reported that Maralghan Baibatirov, vice-chairman of the Geology Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Construction of Kazakhstan, detailed the exploration achievements of Kazakhstan in recent years at the third "Kazakhstan Mining: International Conference" held in the capital.
He mentioned, "The rare earth metal exploration work carried out in 11 areas was completed last year, achieving encouraging results. A very large rare earth deposit was discovered, containing about 17 components, including lanthanides, tellurides, and other elements. This mining area has great development potential. If the predicted reserves are confirmed, Kazakhstan could potentially rank among the top ten in global rare earth reserves. It is well known that rare earth elements are widely used in the manufacturing of electronic products. With the rapid development of new technologies, especially in the field of electric vehicles, the demand for rare earth raw materials has also increased."
According to the Kazakhstan International News Agency on February 5, during his visit to Washington, the Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan, Yerlan Koshelbaev, met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Leland, and exchanged views on further expanding bilateral cooperation.
Foreign Minister Koshelbaev emphasized that Kazakhstan plays an important strategic role in ensuring the stability of global energy resources and key mineral supply chains, and that cooperation in this field is one of the priority directions in relations with the United States.
Having rare earths is one thing, being able to refine rare earth elements is another. Rare earths are actually not rare, as many places around the world have them, including the United States, but the U.S. rare earths have to be sent to China for refining.
On the issue of rare earths, Western countries talk a lot but do little. It is quite normal for rare earths to be distributed in the vast interior of Asia, but the core issue is that the "stan" countries lack the technical capability to refine rare earth elements.
The characteristic of rare earths is that they are distributed very dispersely, because they are attached and coexisting in many other mines, so a large amount of material must be extracted to obtain a small amount of rare earth, so the production cost of rare earths is very high.
Kazakhstan and Mongolia's rare earth ore pass through China to be transported to the U.S. allies Japan and South Korea. Not to mention whether China allows transit through China, just the problem of its huge transportation how to solve? China cannot build a special line for rare earth ore transportation for Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
The U.S. stealth fighter F-35 requires nearly 900 to 1,000 pounds of rare earth per aircraft; the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer requires over 5,000 pounds of rare earth; the Virginia-class submarine requires over 9,000 to 10,000 pounds of rare earth.
F-35 fighter jets and missiles use samarium-cobalt magnets. And samarium-cobalt magnets contain an extremely important element called "dysprosium." Adding "dysprosium" to samarium-cobalt magnets can make the metal perform at maximum efficiency and reduce volume, allowing electric vehicles, aircraft, and other devices to operate more efficiently. However, "dysprosium" is currently only available in China, and other countries have not yet been able to produce it.
The frequent hype by the West about the "weaponization" of China's key minerals is essentially a narrative of exaggerating the "China threat," which is part of their strategy to contain China. As always, time is not on the side of the Western allies in the rare earth industry.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1856345250419851/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.