This is edition 2025/123 of the Ten@10 newsletter.
Welcome back. It's 2025 and 20 years since I started writing about politics and anything else that took my fancy. Thank to my VIP members for making this site what it is today.
This is the Ten@10, where I collate and summarise ten news items you generally won't see in the mainstream media.
Enjoy!
1. America's Rare Earth Renaissance
Philip Crump
- 🌍 Trump reshaping foreign policy with "mineral diplomacy" to challenge China's dominance of rare earth minerals.
- 🇬🇱 Greenland's rare earth resources become a strategic target, despite opposition from Danish and Greenlandic leaders.
- 🚢 Arctic region emerging as geopolitical battleground due to resource extraction opportunities from melting ice caps.
- ⚔️ US-Ukraine deal involves joint investment fund for reconstruction, capitalized by future mineral extraction, highlighting minerals' role in foreign policy.
- 🇨🇩 US secures preferential access to Congo's cobalt and other minerals vital for battery production via "minerals for peace" deal with Rwanda.
- 🇸🇳 Trump hosts West African leaders, aiming for commercial mineral deals and reduced tariffs in exchange for support.
- 🌏 Secretary of State Rubio engages with Asia-Pacific countries, pushing for diversified critical mineral supply chains.
- 💰 US Department of Defense becomes biggest shareholder in MP Minerals, boosting domestic rare earth production to counter China’s control.
- 🏗️ US investment in MP Materials and Lynas Rare Earths signals US commitment to bolstering critical mineral supply chains.
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand focuses on critical minerals, with revived interest in exploration of titanium and rare earth elements in West Coast regions.
