Brookings published on 29 December 2022 a paper titled "Could Africa Replace China as the World's Source of Rare Earth Elements?" by Gracelin Baskaran.
China now has 60 percent of global production and 85 percent of processing capacity of rare earth elements. Africa's potential in rare earths is largely untapped given low levels of exploration. Scaling up exploration of rare earth elements could put it in a position to compete with China.
