Rare Earth Exchanges

Dustin Olsen

We're taking you to the heart of one of the most critical and underappreciated battles shaping our modern world: the rare earth element supply chain. Discover the high-stakes dynamics that are fueling international competition, from China’s commanding grip on processing, refining, and value-added production of rare earth elements to the industries and innovations that depend on these indispensable resources. Each week, we expose the geoscience, geopolitics, and economic forces behind the West's growing reliance on China—forces that are hidden in plain sight but impossible to ignore.

  1. 5d ago

    S2 E92: E-Waste Is 100x Richer Than the Mine We're Digging | Matt Bedingfield, Mint Innovation

    E-waste is fifty to a hundred times more concentrated than the ore coming out of a new mine — and America still treats it as garbage, shipping nearly every circuit board overseas because, as Bedingfield puts it, the ability to handle difficult-to-process scrap left the country twenty-five years ago. Matt Bedingfield is Global CEO of Mint Innovation, a New Zealand-founded cleantech company that recovers copper, gold, silver, tin and palladium from scrapped printed circuit boards without a smelter. Mint produced what HP calls the first certified closed-loop copper — metal recovered from HP's own end-of-life boards and returned to new HP laptops. Before Mint, Bedingfield spent seventeen years in metals and recycling at Novelis, Tri-Arrows Aluminum and Wieland, where he built a $100 million-plus secondary copper refinery in Kentucky and won a $270 million federal grant for a copper smelter that never got built. In this episode: - How batch-continuous hydrometallurgy makes a batch of copper traceable from a dead laptop to a new one - Why Mint doesn't recover rare earths — and where they actually end up - What a non-smelting metals plant looks like: tanks, vats and pumps, or "a microbrewery on steroids" - Why 900 US e-waste recyclers still send every board overseas - Fifteen months and $45 million versus seven years and $1 billion - The framing that makes recycling fundable under either party Guest: Matt Bedingfield, Global CEO, Mint Innovation Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly. 🌐 https://rareearthexchanges.com 🎧 Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts Disclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

  2. Oct 24 ·  Bonus

    S2 BONUS: Malaysia’s Rare Earth Carbonate Only Went to China. Until Now. | Milan Perlly, DTEC

    Until now, every ton of Malaysian rare earth carbonate legally exported went to China. DTEC Mineral & Metal Technology says it now holds the first permit to send it to the United States: a 700-metric-ton allocation for R&D, with the first 30 tons scheduled to leave Penang on October 31, 2026. Milan Perlly, CEO of DTEC Mineral & Metal Technology, joins Dustin Olsen and Daniel O'Connor to explain how a year-old, majority U.S.-owned Malaysian startup got the permit, why Malaysia's ionic clays matter for heavy rare earths, and what Malaysia expects in return. In this episode: • How DTEC secured the first export permit for Malaysian rare earth carbonate to the U.S. • Why the ministry required DTEC to buy the carbonate before it would consider the permit • How Malaysia's states control mining rights while the federal government controls exports • Why the Lynas plant in Malaysia doesn't process Malaysian rare earths • DTEC's plan for licensed separation technology and a midstream plant in Malaysia Guest: Milan Perlly, CEO, DTEC Mineral & Metal Technology Sdn Bhd Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly. 🌐 https://rareearthexchanges.com 🎧 Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts Disclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

  3. Oct 22

    S2 E91: If China Switched Off Rare Earths, the World Would Stop | REEx Rankings

    If China cut off rare earths tomorrow, would the West cope? John Parkinson, who builds the REEx Rankings, says no: "if China was to switch off now, the world would stop." In this Q4 update, Dustin Olsen and Daniel O'Connor sit down with John Parkinson, Chief Business Officer at Rare Earth Exchanges, to walk through the October REEx Rankings. Miners are advancing into construction while processing has barely moved, and John says Neo's magnet plant in Estonia is now producing, which lifted Neo in the rankings. The update also adds a brand-new ranking of rare earth recyclers. John also takes on a market puzzle: why a fully funded project can reach its final investment decision and still see its share price fall. In this episode: - Why processing and separation are still the bottleneck, and why John thinks governments are funding the wrong end of the supply chain - Arafura reached FID and moved into construction, so why did the market punish it? (John discloses he holds Arafura shares) - Lynas's bid for Meteoric Resources and the push into Brazilian heavy rare earths - The heavy rare earths the REEx Rankings don't cover, and how John says China produces them once a year - The new REEx recycling rankings, and why John sees recycling supplying no more than about 5% of ex-China needs over the next five years - The milestones to watch next, from Pensana's financing to an ex-China pricing mechanism Guest: John Parkinson, Chief Business Officer, Rare Earth Exchanges Disclosure: John Parkinson stated on this episode that he is a shareholder of Arafura Rare Earths. Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly. 🌐 https://rareearthexchanges.com 🎧 Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts Disclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

  4. Oct 15

    S2 E90: He Says His Rare Earths Come Out of the Ground for Free | Anthony Hall, Osmond Resources

    Anthony Hall says Osmond Resources will be the only project in the world that gets its rare earths for free. The zircon and titanium in the same rock pay for the mine, and the rare earths come out as a bonus. He also says the EU today extracts none of those minerals at all. Anthony Hall is Managing Director and CEO of Osmond Resources (ASX: OSM), a Spanish critical minerals company listed in Australia, developing the Orión project in Jaén province, Andalucía. He has run three listed mining companies and took the first two from IPO into the ASX 300. One deposit carries rare earths, zirconium and titanium at once. Hall explains why Brussels has moved slower than Washington, and what the Técnicas Reunidas partnership gives Osmond. He also makes the case that the endgame here is robots. In this episode: - Why Osmond calls its rare earths free, and what has to be true for that to hold - Hall's account of European extraction today, and the domestic-supply target the Critical Raw Materials Act sets for 2030 - Why 27 member states make EU subsidy support so hard, and why Spain and Andalucía matter more to him - The $16 billion that went into robotics in six months, and what it needs out of a mine - Why permitting is the one risk he names, and how an underground mine with no surface tailings changes his odds Guest: Anthony Hall, Managing Director and CEO, Osmond Resources Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly. 🌐 https://rareearthexchanges.com 🎧 Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts Disclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

  5. Oct 8

    S2 E89: Oak Ridge Cut Rare Earth Separation Stages in Half | Subho Pramanik & Marcy Lamb, ORNL

    Oak Ridge National Laboratory just won a 2026 R&D 100 Award for a rare earth separation process that halves the number of stages a plant needs for the same throughput. The two ORNL chemists behind it explain why that has almost nothing to do with the molecule. Subho Pramanik is an R&D Associate Staff Scientist at ORNL, a radiochemist and synthetic physical-organic chemist who designs the ligands. Marcy Lamb is a radiochemist in ORNL's Chemical Separations Group who runs the analytical side and the scale-up. Both are named on NEAREST, the Neutral Extractant Advanced Rare Earth Separation Technology. We covered why all 15 lanthanides sit within 20 picometers of one another, how two ligands with opposite selectivity beat a single acidic extractant, what a separation stage actually costs at industrial scale, and why the analytical chemistry nobody sees decides whether any of it worked. In this episode: - Why less than 20 picometers of difference across the lanthanide series makes separation the supply chain's hardest chemistry - How NEAREST cuts required separation stages by roughly 50 percent for the same throughput, and why each stage means pumps, controls, solvent inventory, footprint and capital - Why neutral ligands mean no pH control, no neutralizing base, and a recyclable aqueous phase - What the Critical Materials Innovation Hub is, and how companies can join it under an NDA - The real difference between a critical mineral and a critical material, and why germanium is only one of them - Why separation chemistry is not a degree anyone can graduate with, and the eight kinds of expert it takes instead Guests: Subhamay "Subho" Pramanik, R&D Associate Staff Scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Marcy Lamb, Radiochemist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly. 🌐 https://rareearthexchanges.com 🎧 Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts Disclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

  6. Oct 1

    S2 E88: America's Entire Critical Minerals Stockpile Is Worth $600 Million | Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes

    America's entire strategic minerals stockpile is worth about $600 million. Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes ran the Department of Energy's multi-billion-dollar battery and critical-minerals grant program — and she says the real bottleneck isn't geology, it's price. Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes spent years as the DOE's Deputy Director for Batteries and Critical Materials, deciding which companies got a share of roughly $6 billion in grants and $10 billion in tax credits. She's since founded the family office Smoketree Resources and become COO of M Evo Global Acquisition Corp II (NASDAQ: MEVO), a critical-minerals SPAC, while publishing policy research as a Nonresident Fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute. In this conversation with Dustin Olsen and Daniel O'Connor, she breaks down why Chinese-controlled reference pricing makes it nearly impossible for Western critical-minerals projects to pencil out — and the market fix she's proposing to change that. In this episode: - How the DOE actually decided who got a share of $6B in critical-minerals grants and $10B in tax credits - Why China's "Molycorp playbook" can bankrupt Western competitors without China ever needing to turn a profit - Whether accounting rules could ever reward long-term supply-chain resilience over quarterly returns - Ashley's Baker Institute proposal for a bifurcated reference price — and why "buyer beware" applies to every mining investment - The unrelated Admiral Zumwalt story that turns out to be a pretty good Cold War parallel Guest: Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes, Nonresident Fellow, Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University (former U.S. Deputy Director for Batteries & Critical Materials, Department of Energy) Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly. 🌐 https://rareearthexchanges.com 🎧 Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts Disclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

  7. Sep 24

    S2 E87 - Rhodium Sells for Up to $12,000 an Ounce. He Says He Has It. | Taylor Ford

    Rhodium fetches $9,500 to $12,000 an ounce, the highest price of any element on the periodic table. Taylor Ford says his Colorado claim assays at six to seven ounces of it per ton. Taylor Ford has spent nearly fifty years in exploration. He worked in Exxon's refineries, built and ran his own refinery in South Texas, and built one of the first horizontal drills. Thirty years ago a book about a platinum producer pulled him toward the mining side, and he has been testing rock ever since. He joins Dustin Olsen and Daniel O'Connor to talk about what he has found, why he believes the United States is two decades behind on critical minerals, and why the people most likely to find the next domestic deposit are the least likely to get funded. In this episode: • Why rhodium, not gold or platinum, is the metal he is chasing • The alumina find that appeared on his last test after nine years of testing • What prospecting actually costs: labs, a 150-element spectrum, thousands of dollars before you know anything • Why he says the industry is scared — administration versus administration, with no consistent minerals policy • Where he would start today if he were new: silver, uranium, aluminum Guest: Taylor Ford, Explorationist, Ark Energy Grades, assay results and production claims in this episode are the guest's own and have not been independently verified by Rare Earth Exchanges. Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly. 🌐 https://rareearthexchanges.com 🎧 Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts Disclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

  8. Sep 17

    S2 E86: A New US Rare Earth Discovery? First in 40 Years | Don Swartz, Rare Earths Americas

    Rare Earths Americas CEO Don Swartz says there hasn't been a novel rare earth discovery in the US in about 40 years — and his company thinks it just found one, in the coastal sands of Georgia. Four months after taking Rare Earths Americas (NYSE American: REA) public in the first traditional-listing US rare earths IPO since 2010, Don Swartz joins Dustin and Daniel to walk through the Shiloh and Liberty Peak discoveries in Georgia, the Alpha ionic clay project in Brazil, and how the company is running eight drill rigs across two continents at once. In this episode: - How a decades-old uranium survey led to a possible new US rare earth district - Why heavy rare earths trade at roughly a 5x premium in Europe compared to China - Inside Rare Earths Americas' balance sheet and parallel Georgia/Brazil drill programs - Why the US graduates roughly 200 mining engineers a year versus 10,000+ in China - Don's advice for anyone considering a career in critical minerals Guest: Don Swartz, President & CEO, Rare Earths Americas, Inc. Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly. 🌐 https://rareearthexchanges.com 🎧 Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts Investor Deck: https://ir.rareearthsamericas.com/news-events/presentations Disclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

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About

We're taking you to the heart of one of the most critical and underappreciated battles shaping our modern world: the rare earth element supply chain. Discover the high-stakes dynamics that are fueling international competition, from China’s commanding grip on processing, refining, and value-added production of rare earth elements to the industries and innovations that depend on these indispensable resources. Each week, we expose the geoscience, geopolitics, and economic forces behind the West's growing reliance on China—forces that are hidden in plain sight but impossible to ignore.

Information

  • Creator
    Dustin Olsen
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    94
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Dustin Olsen
  • Show Website
    Rare Earth Exchanges

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