I need to park this here until tomorrow...hope that's ok...so I can ask about it here tomorrow.
Some learned folk here might know something about it.
News Ltd today;
China targets Australia’s rare earths as tensions escalate
China could stop every technological and electrical industry in the world and plunge the planet into the dark ages with just one move.
China has the power to stop every technological and electrical industry in the world and plunge the planet into the dark ages any time it wants, an expert has warned.
Even more worryingly, escalating tensions between China and the West makes it look very likely that this will happen sooner rather than later.
Dr Jeffrey Wilson, research director at the Perth USAsia Centre, said that China owns around 80 per cent of the world’s supply of critical minerals – which is a “powerful weapon”.
“Critical minerals are weird rocks basically – you’ve got them in your phone, in the (TV) antenna, in your computers. They’re used in tiny quantities,” he told news.com.au.
“China has worked out they have a weapon. This is a potentially weaponisable asset, the same way Saudi (Arabia) has petrol.”
Even though a smart phone only uses 50 micrograms of critical minerals, it wouldn’t be able to function without them.
It’s not just smart phones but laptops, batteries, military equipment including missile radars and fighter jet navigation, medical diagnostics, wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicles, to name a few, are all dependent on critical minerals.
China could “bring the world to its knees” if it decided to cut off access, according to Dr Wilson.