{"id":25924,"date":"2026-03-26T16:07:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T16:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/?post_type=rbc_tl&#038;p=25924\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T18:54:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T18:54:42","slug":"critical-minerals-processing-the-wests-refining-challenge-and-the-technologies-closing-the-gap-2","status":"publish","type":"rbc_tl","link":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/explained\/critical-minerals-processing-the-wests-refining-challenge-and-the-technologies-closing-the-gap-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Critical Minerals Processing: The West\u2019s refining challenge and the technologies closing the gap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"wp-block-rbc-section-block  pos-rel\" style=\"border-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-rbc-section-inner-block  section-inner\" style=\"border-radius:0x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns has-rbc-bright-blue-tint-3-background-color has-background is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"border-top-left-radius:10px;border-top-right-radius:10px;border-bottom-left-radius:10px;border-bottom-right-radius:10px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full has-custom-border mar-l-dbl mob-mar-l-dbl\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"4271\" height=\"4271\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/Quantum-Explained-Logo3.png?quality=80\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25264\" style=\"border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/Quantum-Explained-Logo3.png 4271w, https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/Quantum-Explained-Logo3.png?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/Quantum-Explained-Logo3.png?resize=300,300 300w, https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/Quantum-Explained-Logo3.png?resize=768,768 768w, https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/Quantum-Explained-Logo3.png?resize=1024,1024 1024w, https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/Quantum-Explained-Logo3.png?resize=1536,1536 1536w, https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/Quantum-Explained-Logo3.png?resize=2048,2048 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 4271px) 100vw, 4271px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left mob-mar-t mar-t mar-l mob-mar-l pad-t-hlf mob-pad-t-hlf\"><strong>What you need to know about the West\u2019s struggle to break China\u2019s dominant role in rare-earth elements refining\u2014and the technologies that could break Beijing\u2019s hold<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The West has ceded critical minerals processing to China\u2013and rebuilding that capacity in a way that is environmentally permittable, economically viable, and scalable within Western regulatory frameworks is a defining industrial challenge of the decade.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-rbc-section-block  pos-rel\" style=\"border-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-rbc-section-inner-block  section-inner\" style=\"border-radius:0x\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-rbc-bright-blue-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ff2fc548b68ecd5d21e8a2ec22fdf3c7\" id=\"h-why-processing-went-to-china\">Why processing went to China<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>China controls 70% of the global refining market share for 19 of the world\u2019s 20 most critical minerals; across minerals such as rare-earth elements that figure is north of 90%. This dominance is the compounding effect of three structural forces, each reinforcing the other over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Economics.<\/strong> China\u2019s historically low labour costs, energy subsidies, and state-backed industrial policy built a cost structure that undercut Western processors at prevailing commodity prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Environment.<\/strong> Conventional rare earth processing relies on sulphuric acid baking, multi-stage leaching, and solvent extraction, generating toxic waste streams and radioactive tailings. According to a Harvard <a href=\"https:\/\/hir.harvard.edu\/not-so-green-technology-the-complicated-legacy-of-rare-earth-mining\/\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/hir.harvard.edu\/not-so-green-technology-the-complicated-legacy-of-rare-earth-mining\/\" data-dig-id=\"LP-25924-07c6fdbf\" data-dig-category=\"LP\" data-dig-action=\"link click\" data-dig-label=\"analysis\" class=\"rbc-link-format\">analysis<\/a>, for every tonne of rare earth output, conventional processing produces roughly 2,000 tonnes of toxic waste. Western jurisdictions internalize those costs through permitting, environmental liability, and community opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Industrial ecosystem.<\/strong> As China\u2019s processing capacity scaled, it drew in engineering talent, downstream manufacturers, and end-use demand\u2014each reinforcing the next. As Western processing retreated over the last 40 years, financial markets stopped funding, institutions stopped training, and downstream manufacturers defaulted to Chinese supply. China accumulated the opposite\u2014four decades of process knowledge, engineering expertise, and refining IP that enforces a barrier to Western re-entry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-rbc-section-block  pos-rel\" style=\"border-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-rbc-section-inner-block  section-inner\" style=\"border-radius:0x\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-rbc-bright-blue-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-4020ba9c96e579864a998c8e8752791a\" id=\"h-the-environmental-opportunity-and-technology-response\">The environmental opportunity and technology response<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Rebuilding Western processing capacity by replicating China\u2019s model runs into the same barriers that caused offshoring. Arguably it\u2019s now compounded by China\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iea.org\/commentaries\/with-new-export-controls-on-critical-minerals-supply-concentration-risks-become-reality\">October 2025<\/a> export controls on processing equipment and technology. A more tractable path confronts the environmental liabilities of conventional methods directly\u2014and in doing so, also improves the economics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Grant and procurement decisions offer a reasonable proxy for which processing approaches have cleared basic viability thresholds. The U.S. Department of War, Department of Energy, and the Government of Canada have directed meaningful capital toward next-generation critical minerals processing since 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Waste and tailings.<\/strong> New processing approaches\u2014including flash heating and modular ion-exchange systems\u2014substantially reduce or eliminate waste streams, making projects permittable where conventional processing would not be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Canadian firm Ucore Rare Metals is a case in point. Its RapidSX platform is a column-based solvent extraction system for rare earth separation that runs approximately three times faster than conventional mixer-settler systems, with a smaller physical footprint and no Chinese equipment or technology. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) awarded US$4 million for Ucore\u2019s Kingston, Ontario, demonstration facility, followed by US$18 million toward its Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex. The Government of Canada committed $36 million at the G7 resource ministers meeting in October 2025 to support refining of samarium and gadolinium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Emissions.<\/strong> Decarbonizing processing is mainly a question of energy source: replacing fossil-fuel-fired kilns and furnaces with electrically powered alternatives\u2014particularly hydro or other clean sources\u2014solves the emissions problem and improves economics given falling clean electricity costs. Most global critical mineral refining runs on coal-heavy Chinese grids. Processing on hydroelectric power, as Quebec offers, materially changes the emissions profile of the same output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Australia-based Metallium Resources Inc. is working on a solution to transform metal recovery and recycling waste through flash joule heating\u2014millisecond electrical pulses to heat material above 3,000 degrees Celsius, extracting metals selectively without acid or water. The U.S. DoW provided an initial gallium-focused grant and selected the technology as a processing step in a DoW-funded red mud recovery project in Louisiana. Metallium\u2019s Texas demonstration plant has been commissioned, with feedstock supply secured through a binding agreement with commodity firm Glencore plc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Recycling.<\/strong> The IEA finds recycled energy transition minerals such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium produce on average 80% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than primary mined material. Recycling rates for rare-earth elements and lithium remain below 5% globally, yet feedstock is accumulating fast: spent EV batteries, end-of-life wind turbine magnets, and electronic waste from AI infrastructure all carry recoverable critical metal content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The EU has institutionalized recycling demand through binding regulation. Under EU Battery Regulation 2023\/1542, manufacturers face minimum recycled content requirements. These are enforceable compliance thresholds\u2014not targets. They create a structural demand signal for recovered materials that current processing infrastructure cannot meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ReElement Technologies is aiming to turn scrap into mining stock. A subsidiary of American Resources Corp, ReElement runs a modular ion-exchange and solvent-based refining platform processing rare earth magnet scrap and lithium-ion battery black mass into high-purity separated products. The platform accepts multiple feedstock types without Chinese primary concentrates. ReElement has received DoD and Department of Energy funding as part of the U.S.\u2019s effort to establish domestic rare earth and battery metal refining capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Challenging China\u2019s rare-earth refining dominance will take time, but the funding of experimental technologies, backed by policy focus and support, suggests that the transition is finally underway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-rbc-section-block  pos-rel\" style=\"border-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-rbc-section-inner-block  section-inner\" style=\"border-radius:0x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns has-border-color has-grey-border-color is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"border-width:1px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column has-border-color has-grey-border-color is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"border-width:1px;flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"572\" height=\"362\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/03\/Explained-Blog-Image-Critical-Minerals_Download-PDF-RBC-TL1.jpg?quality=80\" alt=\"Critical Minerals Processing: The West\u2019s Refining Challenge and the Technologies Closing the Gap - download the report\" class=\"wp-image-25965\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/03\/Explained-Blog-Image-Critical-Minerals_Download-PDF-RBC-TL1.jpg 572w, https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/03\/Explained-Blog-Image-Critical-Minerals_Download-PDF-RBC-TL1.jpg?resize=300,190 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 572px) 100vw, 572px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading mar-t mar-l mar-b-hlf mob-mar-b-hlf\" id=\"h-download-the-report\">Download the report<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons  mar-l is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\"><div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-button btn before is-style-tertiary tertiary\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Critical-Minerals-Processing-The-Wests-refining-challenge-and-the-technologies-closing-the-gap.pdf\" data-dig-id=\"LP-25924-09519300\" data-dig-category=\"LP\" data-dig-action=\"button click\" data-dig-label=\"Download-https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Critical-Minerals-Processing-The-Wests-refining-challenge-and-the-technologies-closing-the-gap.pdf \">Download<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-rbc-section-block  pos-rel mar-t mob-mar-t mar-b mob-mar-b has-rbc-bright-blue-tint-1-background-color has-background\" style=\"border-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-rbc-section-inner-block  section-inner pad-t mob-pad-t mob-pad-b pad-b\" style=\"border-radius:0x\">\n<p class=\"mob-mar-b-0 mar-b-0 has-white-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-2fd97afb08be16082ddd7b230a583ad6\"><em><strong>Shaz Merwat<\/strong> is Energy Policy Lead at RBC Thought Leadership<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What you need to know about the West\u2019s struggle to break China\u2019s dominant role in rare-earth elements refining<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":25964,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"disable_focal_point":true,"featured_image_focal_point":{"x":0.5,"y":0.5},"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"rbc_tl_category":[130,204,218],"rbc_tl_tag":[126],"class_list":["post-25924","rbc_tl","type-rbc_tl","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rbc_tl_category-climate-action-institute","rbc_tl_category-energy-reports","rbc_tl_category-explained","rbc_tl_tag-energy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Critical Minerals Processing: The West\u2019s refining challenge and the technologies closing the gap - RBC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What you need to know about the West\u2019s struggle to break China\u2019s dominant role 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