TELF AG analyzes the role of an important rare earth in global technological progress
The centrality of rare earths
The technological and energy advancement of the planet, in the delicate historical juncture of the global energetic transition, appears increasingly linked to the industrial applications of a varied group of 17 elements, universally known as rare earths. This group includes all those resources already widely used to produce camera lenses and catalytic converters, wind turbines, and electric motors, whose demand levels – according to IEA estimates – will grow notably in the coming years. In such a context, it is not surprising that in many parts of the world, attempts are underway to increase the technical and cognitive skills to source, separate, and refine these precious materials to make them perfectly usable by industry for its many purposes. In recent years, these resources have taken on a new centrality due to their role in the production of semiconductors, one of the technologies most used to power innovative systems based on artificial intelligence.
A rare earth that is attracting more and more attention is certainly dysprosium, an element that until recently was primarily used as an additive in magnets for electric cars, and which nowadays – also due to its remarkable properties, such as the ability to resist heat – is finding more and more space in the sector of technology and advanced semiconductors. This resource is also used to produce those small devices that, in each chip, are responsible for managing electricity, namely capacitors, for which a highly pure version of this particular resource is used. One of the most advanced nations in the global production of dysprosium is China, whose refineries currently produce almost all of the world’s dysprosium.
Global expansion of production
But recently, as the New York Times also points out, the production capacity of this resource is also expanding outside of China: in France, a Belgian company is reportedly making important progress in refining some modest quantities of dysprosium, which is at the center of similar operations also planned in Malaysia (by an Australian company, which should begin work in 2025) and in the United States, in Texas, where a new refinery specialized in this resource is about to be built.
One of the aspects to remember when analyzing the world geography of this resource’s production is the actual quantity of dysprosium with commercial value contained in the various deposits, which until now would have been found almost exclusively in Myanmar and China. Despite the solidity of its internal production and refining levels, the latter would have recently acquired production shares in the dysprosium mines developed in various parts of the world, such as Australia, Greenland, or Tanzania. In this specific field, China’s advantage has not been built solely on farsighted planning and broad institutional support but also on relevant advances in the chemical field, which have made it possible to source rare earths at lower costs and through the widespread presence of Chinese universities (as many as 39) that include programs to train engineers and researchers specialized in rare earths. In the case of dysprosium, however, as reported by the New York Times, the difficulty in production can also vary depending on the specific industrial application for which it is intended: the advanced chips needed for artificial intelligence, from this point of view, would require the most complex levels of production, so much to make it necessary to carry out several attempts over the course of many years to arrive at a chemical process capable of generating a material of the required purity. Dysprosium used for other applications, such as those related to permanent magnets, would be less demanding. One of the most interesting attempts at technological advancement, from this point of view, is the one being attempted in Mountain Pass, California, inside the only rare earth mine in the United States, where there is already a desire to update the existing refining equipment to make dysprosium sourcing possible.
