The West is Staring at a Looming Crisis in Metals Smelting
In recent years, China has imposed some restrictions on the export of rare earth metals like yttrium, samarium, lutetium, gadolinium, dysprosium, terbium, and scandium. The East Asian country has also become a global leader in base metals smelting, particularly for copper, steel, and aluminum. While technically impressive, China’s rapid smelting expansion has flooded the global market, driving down processing fees and profits and pushing many Western smelters to the brink. Chinese smelters recently entered a copper supply deal with Antofagasta that included zero conversion fees, an unprecedented move that shows smelters are now paying miners for ore, eliminating their primary…
