Washington is pouring money into private refiners to develop novel ways of processing rare earths, betting that American innovation can break China's stranglehold on the strategic metals without resorting to copying Beijing's closely guarded methods.
Audrey Robertson, assistant secretary of energy at the US Department of Energy's Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation, told the Financial Times Metals & Mining Summit in London on October 15 that American refiners would rely on their own ingenuity to make the country self-sufficient in critical minerals. "We might develop the intellectual property, but we don't execute on building the big factory," she said. "There's definitely going to be an increased focus on getting innovation that starts and stays in the United States."
Robertson drew a parallel with the US energy transformation over the past two decades. "Twenty years ago, we were the world's largest importer of oil and natural gas. Now we are the largest exporter of both," she noted. "We changed that not by competing with OPEC but by innovating in the US."
However, industry experts caution that some US projects will still have to pay high costs to learn China's traditional extraction method, which Chinese firms have spent more than two decades perfecting. Michel Van Hoey, a senior partner at McKinsey, said on the same panel that the West had transferred process capability to China and no longer possesses it. "China has continued to advance that capability over the past 40 years, and the West will have to catch up to close the gap if it wants to be independent of China," he said.
China's tightening grip
Beijing has steadily tightened its control over rare earths, restricting exports of the metals as well as the technology and people needed to refine them. In December 2023, China banned exports of rare earth processing and magnet-making technologies. In June, it cut off supplies of China-origin dual-use items to US producers MP Materials and USA Rare Earth. Last month, it tightened exit rules to stop skilled technicians, including rare earth experts, from leaving the country.
The Trump administration has responded with a series of measures since last year. In August 2025, the Pentagon awarded $10 million to NioCorp's Elk Creek project in Nebraska, which is set to become the first US niobium mine in late 2029. The project plans an on-site plant to process niobium, scandium and titanium and has tested separating rare earths from its ore. Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited the site on October 14, 2026.
Earlier this year, the DOE set up the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation to consolidate research on mining, processing, metallurgy, recycling, magnets and semiconductors. On June 2, the office selected the Colorado School of Mines and Phoenix Tailings for $134 million to build two rare earth demonstration facilities that turn mining and industrial waste into rare earth metals. On August 7, it launched the $100 million Providing Opportunities for Specialized Education in Critical Technologies (PROSPECT) initiative to train students.
Robertson said the US faces a workforce shortage in the critical mineral sector and that PROSPECT aims to double the number of mining and minerals graduates within two years.
New methods on the table
While Robertson did not specify the new methods, company disclosures point to continuous ion chromatography (CIC) and electrochemical separation. In China, refiners dissolve minerals in strong acid, mix the solution with kerosene and chemicals such as P507 and P204, and pass it through hundreds of mixing and settling tanks. A stronger acid then strips out each element so it can be precipitated.
US firms using CIC also dissolve minerals in acid, then dilute the solution with water and run it through resin-filled columns, where each element moves at its own speed and emerges separately. The US dropped chromatography in the 1950s due to cost concerns, but with rare earths now dubbed the new gold, the cost is worth it.
In electrochemical separation, rare earths are dissolved in molten salt at about 700°C and an electric current is applied. As each element turns into metal at a slightly different voltage, they can be collected separately.
US refiners are taking different approaches. MP Materials, NioCorp's Elk Creek project, and Aclara Resources Inc are pursuing solvent extraction. ReElement Technologies, USA Rare Earth, and the Colorado School of Mines' new facility are using CIC. Phoenix Tailings is focusing on electrochemical separation.
On Tuesday, Phoenix Tailings announced it will build Freedom Separation, a $375 million rare earth separation facility in Rochester, New York, to process more than 18,000 tons of feedstock into separated rare earths. The move underscores the scale of investment the US is willing to make to secure its supply chain.
As Washington pushes forward, the question remains whether American innovation can match China's decades of experience. Robertson remains optimistic: "The US has a history of having problems and then finding solutions. We are going to attack critical minerals and processing with the same drive to solve the problem."
