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Rare earths are critical to the green transition, electric vehicles, and defence technologies – making their control a pressing national priority.

“The open international market in critical minerals and rare earths is a mirage. It doesn’t exist. And the reason it doesn’t exist is because there is one supplier of these materials and they have the wherewithal to change where the market goes, whether that be in pricing or supply,” Australia’s resources minister Madeleine King says.

Canberra sees government intervention as necessary to provide an alternative supply, and help the world rely less on China.

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