Consultations on rare earths among the topics to begin within weeks.
Chile and the United States plan to cooperate on critical raw materials, according to a statement from the South American country’s foreign ministry. Chilean President José Antonio Kast and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau signed a joint declaration yesterday, Thursday. The consultations outlined in the agreement are scheduled to begin within 15 days.
The discussions will focus, among other things, on strengthening supply chains for critical minerals and rare earth elements. They will also address the identification of joint projects to close supply gaps, waste management, and potential private and public financing mechanisms for investments.
Chile hosts the world’s largest reserves of the battery mineral lithium, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey (PDF). The country is also home to ion-adsorption clays, deposits that are important sources of heavy rare earth elements such as dysprosium and terbium, which enhance the performance of magnets used in applications including electric mobility. The Canadian company Aclara Resources plans to develop these deposits in Chile and Brazil and process the materials in the United States. For its project in the Brazilian state of Goiás, Aclara has already secured up to five million dollars from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the U.S. government’s development finance institution.
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