Rare earth minerals are indispensable to the manufacture of high-performance magnets, batteries, and other materials that are vital to clean energy, communications, aerospace, and defense technology (1). The global demand for rare earth minerals is expected to double by 2050 (2). China dominates the rare earth mineral market, but recent Chinese export restrictions have motivated the countries that rely on China to increase the development of domestic supplies (3). On 20 October 2025, Australia signed an agreement with the United States to strengthen the supply chains for rare earth mineral mining and processing (4). Although the US-Australia rare earths framework (5) may bolster Australia’s domestic processing capacity, the economic benefits could come at a cost to global biodiversity.
