A strategic contest is underway among major global powers including China, the United States, Japan, Russia, the European Union, South Korea, India, Taiwan and Germany over access to and control of rare earth elements (REEs), the critical materials essential to advanced technologies and national security.
America’s annual demand for rare earth elements exceeds 15 million kilogrammes, while the European Union requires over six million kilogrammes each year. Japan’s consumption surpasses five million kilogrammes, with both Taiwan and Germany importing roughly three million kilograms annually.
Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II, single-seat, single-engine, multirole combat, supersonic stealth strike-fighter, contains 920 pounds of REES. The Virginia class, or the SSN-774 class, nuclear-powered attack submarine, takes in 4,600 kg REEs. Tomahawk cruise missiles, M1 Abrams tanks, Patriot missiles and AH-64 Apache helicopters all need REES.
The Rafale multirole fighter requires approximately 250 kilogrammes of REES to operate, while the Eurofighter Typhoon, developed by the EU, consumes around 150 kilogrammes of REEs per aircraft. The Royal Navy’s Type 26 Global Combat Ship incorporates several hundred kilogrammes of REES in its construction and onboard systems.
Italy’s Leonardo utilises 50 kilogrammes of REES in each Merlin helicopter, and Mitsubishi Industries’ Type 10 main battle tank consumes approximately 60 kilogrammes per unit. Israel Aerospace’s Barak-8 surface-to-air missile system requires about eight kilogrammes of REEs per missile. Germany also depends on REEs in the production of its mobile air-surveillance and reconnaissance radar systems.
Global demand for rare earths is running at ~300 million kg per year and China supplies roughly 70 per cent of that quantity and dominates around 90 per cent of the global refining capacity.
Pakistan’s principal rare earth element (REE)-bearing sites - including Leo Shilman, Chagai, Sillai Patti (Malakand), Saindak, Warsak, the Peshawar Basin, and Skardu are estimated to host approximately 500,000 metric tonnes of recoverable total rare earth oxides (TREO). This resource base represents an estimated 4 to 6 percent of global REE reserves and has the potential to meet 15-20 per cent of the United States’ annual REE demand.
On October 9, China’s Ministry of Commerce issued Notice No 62 of 2025 further tightening export controls on critical REE magnet metals citing “national security”. The United States, through the Defense Production Act (Title III), has declared REES ‘war-critical materials’. The European Union has listed 17 REEs as ‘strategic raw materials’.
REE is the new frontline. The global REE race has now become a supply-chain war — fought through mines, refineries and trade corridors rather than missiles. The war over rear earths is being fought through export bans, alliances and supply-chain realignments.
REE is the new geopolitical currency. So far, Pakistan is a mine, not a market. So far, Pakistan’s REE potential remains geological, not industrial. Time is of essence; we must move from raw ore to separated oxides. We must embed Pakistan into the global defence-industrial supply chain - from Balochistan’s coastal sands to America’s magnets. We must convert our rocks into revenue.
The writer is an Islamabad-based columnist.
