May 14, 2021
From the US to Europe, there is growing awareness that an over-reliance on China for rare earths presents economic and national security risks. One high-stakes arena that could shape the trajectory of the global climate economy is the rare earth permanent magnet industry.
What are rare earth magnets?
Permanent magnets are so called because they maintain their magnetic properties even when exposed to a magnetic field. Put another way, the magnets have permanent magnetic fields.
There are four major types of permanent magnets: two that have no rare earths in them, and two that do. Rare earths are a group of 17 metals, classified into lights and heavies depending on their atomic number, and are crucial to the manufacturing of high-tech products.