UK must be less dependent on China for critical minerals, says thinktank
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Exclusive: Labour Together urges government to ‘de-risk’ supply chains by working with other countries. The UK must become less dependent on China for critical minerals, an influential thinktank has concluded before a government strategy decision in the spring.
In a report on rare earth minerals, which are essential components for hi-tech products from mobile phones to missiles, Labour Together said ministers should “de-risk” supply chains and reduce reliance on China by building partnerships with other countries.
The report said China’s dominance in critical mineral supply chains created “vulnerability” and the UK was at greater risk of being singled out after Brexit. Amid escalating trade tensions with the US before Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, China banned shipments of antimony, gallium and germanium to the country earlier this month.
The UK government has said it will produce a new strategy on critical minerals in the spring. Labour Together said this should be closely informed by the government’s industrial strategy, also due in the spring, to determine which critical minerals and stages of the supply chain the UK will be most reliant on in the future.
Critical minerals are essential for the green transition. Data suggests China extracts about 70% of the world’s rare earth metal ore, dominates the processing and refining of it and uses it to manufacture 90% of the global supply of neodymium magnets, the magnet most commonly used in wind turbines.
