Author: Paolo Gila

China blocks their exports. The United States looks to Greenland to extract them. Europe does not produce them, but desperately needs them: Rare Earths are today’s gold of the 21st century.

Geopolitics of Rare Earths takes the reader inside the new great game of critical raw materials, where China controls 80% of refining, the United States rushes to find new deposits, and Europe–still lacking a common strategy–tries to focus on recycling and partnerships. The book clearly answers crucial questions: Which industrial groups are leading this change? What role can Europe and Italy play? What financial instruments allow operators and investors to participate in this global challenge?

Enriched with charts, tables, and a color map on the inside covers locating rare earth reserves, the book combines geopolitics, economics, and finance, offering a valuable tool to navigate a contest that will determine wealth, energy security, and power in the coming decades.

Who produces lithium for electric car batteries? Where can copper and cobalt be found? An essay on the geopolitics and current affairs to understand the strategic role of raw materials in the present and future economy, where new countries are emerging and growing in their production activities, consumption and international relations.

Considering the intense manufacturing development and a substantial population increase in various parts of the world, in future years the West and the BRICS (enlarged to 11 nations from 1 January 2024) will face even stronger competition for finding industrial metals, rare earths, food, natural fibres, as well as gas and oil.

Hence an effort to understand – supported by clear colour maps – where these treasures can be found and where the largest reserves are hidden. Looking ahead, the countries that will dominate the scene will be those that know how to wisely stock everything needed for the production and commercial cycles. A strategic challenge that sees the two superpowers, US and China, already in open confrontation for world domination.