US backs South Africa project to extract rare earths despite diplomatic clash

President Donald Trump has made expanding US access to critical minerals, including rare earth elements, a central policy to counter China. The Trump administration said this year it will deploy nearly USD 12 billion to create its own strategic reserve. By PTI Two enormous sand-like dunes at an old chemical processing plant in South Africa are at the centre of an exploratory US-backed project to extract highly sought-after rare earth elements from industrial mining waste. The Phalaborwa Rare Earths Project has US support through a USD 50 million equity investment by the government’s International Development Finance Corporation and is part…