La Ore: Pakistan claims to have exported rare earth elements to US

The TOI correspondent from Washington: In a shifty effort to put on a solid footing a relationship with Washington that was on the rocks for almost two decades, Pakistan has exported the first consignment of minerals purportedly containing rare earths to the US.

The Pakistan government revealed over the weekend that in a “historic milestone for bilateral cooperation,” it has “successfully delivered its first batch of enriched rare earth elements and critical minerals” to US Strategic Metals (USSM), a private company in Missouri with which one of its state-owned entities had signed a $ 500 million partnership early September.


The export follows a presentation the Pakistan’s hybrid military-civilian leadership made to President Trump in the White House late last month. China has a near monopoly over export of rare earth elements, vital in a range of industries from automobiles to rocketry to advanced computing, and the US is trying to overcome Beijing’s stranglehold.

"Today, Pakistan steps forward as a credible and trusted partner in building secure and diversified supply chains for the future of our two nations." Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was quoted as saying by the PR Newswire, an agency that distributes content for a fee. It disclosed that “In this first shipment, Pakistan has indigenously sourced and prepared: Antimony, Copper concentrate; and rare earth elements with neodymium and praseodymium.”

However, the PR appeared to be more optics than based on reality. Neodymium and praseodymium are primarily present in the form of compounds within specific minerals. They are almost never found as pure, free metals. It takes years, even decades to separate, and refine rare earth elements (REEs) from their mineral ores (which is what Pakistan has sent).

Even the US does not have full self-sufficiency in the entire rare earth supply chain. Only one American company, MP Materials, which operates the Mountain Pass Mine in California, is reported to run an active rare earth mine in the country, and even it exports concentrates to China for final processing. Only after the current tariff fiasco which resulted in China cutting off rare earths to America has the US embarked on a "mine-to-magnet" domestic supply chain, and even that is expected to take years to develop. Some estimates put this at 10 to 20 years.

Still, the press release talked up the “strategic and economic significance,” for Pakistan’s from its entry into the global minerals supply chain, with the potential to generate billions in revenues, large-scale job creation, and technology transfer, adding that Pakistan’s natural resources are estimated at around 6 Trillion USD making it one of the largest precious metals and rare earth minerals on the world.

For the United States, it is a strategic safeguard ensuring resilience and independence from external monopolies, while securing vital inputs for its defense, energy, and high-tech sectors, Pakistan said through the PR agency.

"We see this as the first step in our exciting journey together with the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) of Pakistan, to provide critical minerals to the United States and bolster economic trade and friendship between our two countries," Stacy W. Hastie, CEO of USSM, was quoted as saying.

The agreement between USSM and FWO creates a framework for joint development of the entire mineral value chain—including exploration, beneficiation, concentrate production, and eventual establishment of refineries in Pakistan, it said, adding that “with this first delivery completed and a multi-phase investment framework underway, Pakistan is now positioned as a rising force in the global critical minerals economy—and a long-term partner to the United States.”