Kazakhstan enters rare earths, minerals race as China alternative

Materials

Central Asian country has deposits and mining expertise, but processing remains difficult

China accounts for 70% of the world’s rare-earth production and controls 90% of the processing and refining. (Nikkei montage/source photos by Reuters)

LONDON — In the Hilton Astana last week, Kazakhstan presented itself as one answer to a problem worrying governments from Washington to Tokyo: how to loosen China’s grip on rare-earth minerals used in technologies that power the modern world.