Breaking Our Shackles From China’s Rare Earth Monopoly

Diplomatic summits don’t usually get named after raw materials unless something has gone very wrong.

That’s what made the Pax Silica Summit so telling. 

Beneath the language of cooperation sat a blunt recognition: the U.S. has allowed itself to become dangerously dependent on China for the critical minerals that underpin modern power.

President Trump didn’t obscure the point of this U.S.-led initiative, either. 

Pax Silica is about breaking supply-chain dependence — specifically, the mineral dependence that ties America’s technology, defense systems, and energy future to China. 

Silicon may be the headline, but our need for strategic minerals is the foundation.

You know just as well as I do that rare earths and other critical materials are no longer obscure inputs. 

These are the materials at the core of our future technology, from AI data centers, missile guidance systems, and EVs, to the very grid infrastructure meant to support them. China doesn’t just mine a large share of these materials, it controls the hardest step in the chain: refining.

It’s a vulnerability that Pax Silica is designed to address. 

We’re past industrial nostalgia and well-wishing, because these have become a strategic necessity for national security. 

And now, President Trump is quickly shifting us from managing an ever-growing dependence to securing our own supply chain. 

Of course, the U.S. isn’t alone in reaching this conclusion.

China’s dominance in global rare earths has finally crossed a line — from efficient supplier to structural risk. 

We’re talking about export controls, licensing rules, and selective enforcement that have turned refining power into pure leverage. When a single controls the choke point, everyone else eventually looks for a bypass.

Anyone else getting a little déjà-vu from the 1970s, when OPEC decided to flex its muscle in global oil markets and enact an embargo?

Yeah, well, this is a far, far worse situation that we’ve found ourselves in. 

At least in the 1970s we were still pumping oil out of the ground, even if we had just started what turned out to be a decades-long decline.

This time, the power that China holds over global rare earths is incredibly greater than what OPEC wielded. The country controls roughly 90% of the world’s refining and processing capacity of rare earths, as well as 93% of magnet production. 

But that dominance may be changing.

In Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) is building North America’s first integrated rare earth processing facility in decades — capable of handling monazite feedstock, separation, and metal production at commercial scale. 

We’re not talking about some small pilot project, mind you, but a crucial piece of infrastructure that’ll process heavy earths; materials like dysprosium and terbium are essential for high-performance magnets that operate under heat and stress. 

And here’s the key part — once one refinery is up and running on our home turf, more will start popping up. 

Naturally, there’s another part of this supply chain equation; we’re going to need the raw materials to process. 

That’s why the Trump administration is aggressively pushing to boost domestic production of critical minerals. 

Across the U.S., permitting reform, federal financing tools, and direct support mechanisms are being aligned to shorten timelines that once stretched endlessly. 

This isn’t about displacing China overnight, but rather breaking its monopoly and reducing their leverage with a little good, old fashioned competition.  

Saskatchewan isn’t the conclusion, it’s just the starting point. 

I want you to look past the politics right now; this is the time for positioning. 

You see, not every mining company benefits equally from a supply-chain reset, and the winners won’t be the loudest stories or the newest discoveries. 

They’ll be the ones ready and willing to start extracting those critical minerals right away.

Some of those mining stocks aren’t just ahead of the herd in bringing those rare earth projects to fruition. They’re also double-dipping into one of the best gold runs in recent history, which means that as gold prices continue marching higher, these miners are generating a mountain of cash that’ll keep their coffers full. 

That combination is rare, so as Washington accelerates domestic mineral policy and North America begins rebuilding refining capacity, these companies won’t be scrambling to catch up — they’ll be scaling from a position of strength.

The real challenge is pinpointing those investment gems in the U.S. mining sector. 

Let me show you one of them right here.