The so-called “rare minerals” (also called “rare earths”) are those that have a concentration of less than 0.001% in the Earth's crust. They are characterized by their unique physical and chemical properties, which make them essential for a wide range of technologies.
The use of rare minerals has increased significantly in recent decades, due to the increasing demand for technological products. Rare minerals are used in a wide range of applications, including:
- Electronics: Rare minerals are essential for the manufacture of electronic components, such as permanent magnets, capacitors and semiconductors.
- Energy: Rare minerals are used in the manufacture of wind turbines, solar panels and batteries.
- Automotive: rare minerals are used in the manufacture of electric motors, batteries and security systems.
- Defense: Rare minerals are used in the manufacture of weapons, ammunition and navigation systems.
This trend of increasing use of rare minerals is expected to continue in the future. And that's due to a number of factors, including:
- Global population growth: The increase in global population is creating greater demand for technological products, which require rare minerals.
- The energy transition: The transition to a low-carbon economy is driving demand for rare minerals, which are used in the manufacturing of renewable energy technologies.
- Technological innovation: Technological innovation is giving rise to new products and applications that require rare minerals.
The increased use of rare minerals poses a number of challenges, including:
- Security of supply: production of rare minerals is concentrated in a small number of countries, posing risks to security of supply.
- Environmental sustainability: The extraction and processing of rare minerals can have a negative impact on the environment.
To address these challenges, it is necessary to develop new sources of rare minerals and improve the efficiency of their use. And of course it is also very important to develop alternative technologies that do not require the use of these minerals.
The main sources of rare minerals are China, Australia, Brazil and Russia. China is the world's leading producer and consumer of rare minerals, with a market share of over 80%, and this often creates tensions in the supply of these materials.
The concentration of rare minerals in the Earth's crust is very low, which makes their extraction difficult. The extraction of rare minerals is often a complex and expensive process, and in many cases has a negative impact on the environment. And something similar happens with the processing of these minerals, as they usually require toxic products that contaminate water, soil and air.
As I said before, technological innovation is very important to reduce the use of rare minerals. And in fact, Artificial Intelligence is already being used to help discover new “components” that will replace these minerals in the near future.
There is still a long way to go, but today we depend on these rare minerals for many of the technological advances that we “enjoy”, with the “problems” that entails. And that is not going to be resolved overnight.
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