These 17 metals used in nearly all electronics and China exports and manufactures the vast majority used across the world. From 2016 to 2019, 80 percent of these minerals came from China. But there could be mining in Texas for rare earth metals in the not too distant future.
State controller Glenn Hegar says rare earth metals are scattered around the globe, but there is a 950 acre state owned site in not far from El Paso that is packed with 16 of these metals.The hope is that in 2023, USA Rare Earth LLC will begin mining rare earths on that site in the Sierra Blanca.
Once fully operational, the company is expected to be the second in the U.S. to extract and the first to both extract and process rare earths. Hegar says the mining would produce jobs, "add to the state's GDP, but more importantly add to giving some greater stability not just to Texas but the entire United States in having a greater diversification of the rare earth materials."
These metals are found in virtually all electronics including cell phones and televisions. And that includes the Fort Worth built F-35 fighter jet. "Most people don't realize that each jet has about 920 pounds of rare earth metals in it, so it's important for strategic defense in the United States to have that greater diversification and production here in the United States."
The hope he says is for Texas to produce 15 to 18 percent of the rare earth metals in the United States used annually.
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