Trending trade in rare earths: Turning Sri Lanka's mineral potential into national power

The invisible minerals powering our world

- By P.M. Amza

Walk into your living room and pick up your smartphone. Hidden inside are powerful but invisible minerals called rare earth elements.

Step outside and look at a passing electric car, or a towering wind turbine on the coast again, the same minerals are there. From missiles and medical devices to the batteries in our laptops, these resources are everywhere, even though most of us hardly know they exist.

This is the global "rare earth race". It is a race Sri Lanka has so far watched from the sidelines, but one that it cannot afford to ignore much longer:

Rare earths are a group of 17 minerals with unique magnetic and electronic properties. They are essential to modern technologies in ways most consumers never see. An electric vehicle, for instance, requires about a kilogram of rare earth magnets. A large wind turbine can use nearly 600 kilograms of rare earths about as heavy as a cow to generate power. Demand is climbing sharply: in 2022, global consumption stood at around 170,000 tonnes of rare earth oxides, and by 2030 this is projected to exceed 280,000 tonnes, an increase of 60% in less than a decade.

China produces about two-thirds of the world's rare earths and controls almost 90% of refining. Even minerals mined elsewhere are mostly processed there. Australia, the United States, Myanmar and Vietnam are trying to expand capacity, but the world remains highly dependent on a single supplier.

Recent developments show how deeply rare earths are woven into global power politics. In October 2025, China tightened export controls on rare earths and related technologies, citing national security concerns widely viewed as retaliation for new US tariffs. The United States is now racing to diversify supplies and build domestic refining capacity. This renewed rivalry underscores how strategic these materials have become and why smaller nations, including Sri Lanka, must position themselves prudently in the evolving supply chain.