In addition, the government is providing $840 million to rare earths miner Arafura Rare Earths to develop Australia's first rare earth mine and refinery, the Nolans Rare Earths Project in the Northern Project.

The state government will take over private company CuString's planned CopperString 2.0 project to build a high voltage line from Townsville to the northwest, which is rich in copper, zinc, lead, silver and potentially phosphate and rare earth minerals

"In about a year from now, we'll have so much critical mineral and rare earths that you won't know what to do with them," Trump said on Oct. 20.

A general view of Steenkampskraal mine—confirmed as one of the highest grade deposits of rare earth minerals in the world—on July 29, 2019.

Russia could also potentially stand to gain from access to Afghanistan's deposits of rare earth metals and other mineral resources. "There are hydrocarbons, as well as deposits of precious stones and rare earth metals," Kubalov said.

Last month, the Trump administration finalized a new list of minerals that are crucial to national security and the economy. The Interior Department and the U.S. Geological Survey identified 60 minerals, including 15 rare-earth elements.

In Australia, the government blocked China from buying a local lithium producer and stopped a Chinese investor from raising its stake in a rare earth miner.

The CCP has explored the possibility of limiting the export of rare earth minerals that are used in American F-35 fighter jets and other advanced weaponry, the Financial Times reported last year.

In recent days, America's reliance on adversaries for oil and gas has come to the forefront, but are critical rare earth minerals crucial to our way of life also under siege by Americas' adversaries?

Afghanistan has about $1 trillion worth of untapped rare earth minerals, including huge deposits of lithium, yet decades of war have hampered the development of the country's mining industry.

Lithium output is expected to triple world over the next decade, as demand for EVs begins to exceed supply, as each battery requires on average about 17 pounds of the metal, plus cobalt, nickel, and other rare earth minerals.

Over the next two decades, achieving the goals laid out in the Paris Accords will require a 40 percent increase in copper and rare earth minerals and a 60–70 percent increase in nickel and cobalt production.

A loader shifts soil containing rare earth minerals to be loaded at a port in Lianyungang, in China's Jiangsu Province, for export to Japan.

He said Ukraine would require security guarantees from its allies in any agreement on supplying critical minerals and rare earths. Reuters contributed to this report.

President Biden’s executive order calls for a 100-day review of specific supply chains, including semiconductors, electric vehicle batteries, rare earth minerals, and pharmaceuticals, and a departmental supply chain assessment.

China controls about 80 percent of the global supply of rare-earth minerals and sees its dominance as leverage that can be used against the West.

Quad nations have varying amounts of rare earth mineral reserves.

Despite attempts to overcome dependence on China in the area of processing rare earth minerals, the reality is that the Western states are yet to commit to major (and environmentally difficult) processing.

In April, China imposed a moratorium on exports of rare earth minerals and related magnets, an essential component for automakers, the aerospace industry, semiconductor companies, and military manufacturers, which caused some European auto parts plants

Moe complained on Twitter, calling the snub "disappointing" since the federal and provincial governments see eye-to-eye on the development of critical and rare earth minerals. "The province was left off the list for reasons I don't know.

China has a near-monopoly in the rare earth industry.

“We're talking, if not 10 years, we're talking multiple decades before we can even catch up to China in terms of the manufacturing of green energy infrastructure, as well as the mining and refining of rare earth minerals, such as cobalt and lithium,”

Burgum's statement that China controls 60 percent of rare-earth minerals and 85 percent of its processing. "Fact check—Doug Burgum is right," the agency headlined a story.

Australia is one of the world's top exporters of lithium and rare earth minerals, which are crucial for battery production. However, the country lacks the industrial capacity to convert raw materials into higher-value products.

A loader shifts soil containing rare earth minerals to be loaded at a port in Lianyungang, in China's Jiangsu Province, for export to Japan, on Sept. 5, 2010.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration claims it wants America to lead in “clean energy” production, but is instead blocking American producers from developing the critical, rare-earth minerals to make it happen domestically.

According to Reuters, the United States attaches significant importance to Vietnam's rare earth industry. Insiders within this sector suggest that Vietnam boasts rare earth mineral deposits second only to China in scale.

Rare earth minerals production, meanwhile, has almost entirely shifted overseas. The core reasons for the mining downfall have been not so much economic as political, Black suggested.

Electric vehicles are powered by rare earth minerals that are largely sourced out of China.

South Korea seeks to tap into Vietnam's rare earth minerals and boost cooperation in the high-tech industry. The two countries also agreed to cooperate in finance, technology, information, infrastructure, and energy.