• TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    Lol, we aren’t going to be mining anything. Rare earth minerals aren’t rare because they’re only located in isolated places, they’re rare because they are only present in small amounts when mining other materials.

    The hard part is the refining of rare earth minerals because it requires large investments in refineries to separate the materials and consolidate them. Infrastructure that Ukraine or America haven’t invested in.

    The minerals deal is just something that trump can point to as a “win” when in reality it’s not worth anything. Just like everything this administration does, it’s nothing but smoke and mirrors.

    • frezik@midwest.social
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      1 day ago

      Ukraine doesn’t even have significant rare earth deposits. Nothing worth mining.

      However, those aren’t the only thing in the deal. Bunch of other minerals are in there, and oil and natural gas.

    • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I’m aware, but they’re also unfortunately rare in the US, and we need batteries if we don’t maintain a good trade relationship with China.

      • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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        1 day ago

        America actually has plenty of rare earth deposits, it’s just not profitable to mine them and then build facilities to refine them.