• Dr. Robert Fox of Idaho National Laboratory explains that rare earths are “critical” not due to scarcity but vulnerability—concentration in mining, processing, and refining creates strategic pinch points that one nation can exploit to control global markets.
• INL is pioneering “process intensification” to collapse multi-stage rare earth separation into fewer, more powerful steps using hybrid systems combining chromatography, electrochemistry, and AI-driven optimization to enable high-purity processing closer to mine sites.
• A coordinated U.S. federal effort spanning DOE, Defense, Commerce, State, and EXIM Bank is rebuilding America's critical minerals backbone, moving from aspiration to implementation with national laboratories translating breakthrough science into deployable industrial solutions.

There are interviews that inform—and those that reframe an industry. The latest Rare Earth Exchanges™ podcast (opens in a new tab) with Robert Fox, PhD, a senior chemical research scientist with Idaho National Laboratory, and does the latter.

Its central insight is disarmingly simple: rare earths are not “critical” because they are scarce, but because they are vulnerable. As Dr. Fox explains, “criticality” is the presence of a pinch point—anywhere from supply to processing to pricing power. Today, those pinch points define the market.

The Materials Behind the Illusion

Modern life rests on materials most people never see. The cloud is metal. So are electric vehicles, grid infrastructure, advanced weapons systems, and the hardware underpinning artificial intelligence. The risk is not merely shortage; it is concentration. When one country dominates mining, separation, refining, and manufacturing, it does not just participate in markets—it sets its terms.

China’s strategy, as Fox describes it, was neither accidental nor subtle: expand capacity, suppress prices, and displace competitors. It worked.

An Unusual Commodity

Rare earths defy conventional commodity logic. They are mined as a group, not individually. Extracting value requires separating chemically similar elements—an energy- and capital-intensive process, only a fraction of which command high prices.

The result is a structural imbalance: economically valuable elements such as neodymium and dysprosium must subsidize the separation of lower-value counterparts. INL’s approach is to close that gap—turning byproducts like cerium into viable industrial materials, thereby shifting project economics from liability to leverage.

Where the System Breaks

The industry’s true constraint is not geology but processing. Separation and refining—particularly of heavy rare earths—remain the bottleneck. The dominant industrial method, solvent extraction, is proven but inefficient: slow, resource-intensive, and dependent on hundreds of sequential stages. Even its practitioners are moving beyond it.

A Different Model: Process Intensification

INL’s response is not an incremental improvement but a redesign. “Process intensification” aims to collapse multi-step processing into fewer, more powerful stages—pushing high-purity separation closer to the mine itself. This requires rethinking separation science. Fox describes hybrid systems—combining chromatography, electrochemistry, and membrane techniques—capable of discriminating at the atomic level under industrial conditions. The ambition is clear: bypass legacy infrastructure and produce near-refined material at source.

It is a high-risk, high-reward proposition. But if it works, it alters the economics of the entire supply chain. And that’s Fox and colleagues at INL’s mission.

Technology Meets Computation

A further shift is underway. Artificial intelligence is moving into the separation stack—not as a peripheral tool, but as a core driver of optimization and efficiency. In a system defined by complexity and trade-offs, computational control may prove decisive.

Circularity, Deferred

According to the expert, recycling remains more aspiration than reality. The infrastructure to recover rare earths at scale is limited, and current methods often destroy the value they seek to reclaim—reducing refined materials back to low-grade inputs. The opportunity lies in redesign: recovering materials in their highest-value state, rather than reprocessing them from scratch.

From Lab to Market

INL’s role is increasingly translational. It is not merely generating science but de-risking it—moving technologies from bench to pilot scale, and drawing industry into the process earlier. The logic is pragmatic: those who participate early are more likely to deploy.

At the same time, policy alignment is strengthening. Agencies across the U.S. government—from energy to defense to export finance—are beginning to coordinate capital and strategy around critical materials.

A System Under Redesign

This episode is less a discussion than a signal. The West is no longer asking whether to rebuild its rare earth supply chains, but how. INL’s approach suggests one answer: not by replicating existing systems, but by compressing and reconfiguring them.

If process intensification proves viable, if hybrid separations scale, if byproducts become assets, then rare earth economics will look very different.

For now, the work proceeds largely out of sight. But in a market defined by hidden dependencies, that may be fitting.

Robert Fox, PhD

Dr. Fox is a senior chemical research scientist at Idaho National Laboratory with more than 25 years of experience leading advanced research across analytical chemistry, electrochemistry, separations science, and nanomaterials. He has served as Principal Investigator and technical lead on numerous programs funded by agencies such as the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Defense, helping drive innovation in critical materials and energy systems.

In addition to his scientific leadership, Dr. Fox manages major research initiatives, leads multidisciplinary teams, and has mentored dozens of early-career scientists. He is also recognized across the national lab system for his expertise in pressure system safety and complex chemical systems engineering.

The U.S. Federal Government: Making it Happen

Rare Earth Exchanges™ reminds all of the importance of the U.S. federal agencies quietly rebuilding America’s rare earth elements and critical minerals backbone. From the U.S. Department of Energy and its ARPA-E programs advancing breakthrough technologies, to the U.S. Department of War and its Office of Strategic Capital anchoring supply chain security, to the U.S. Department of Commerce shaping industrial policy, and the Export-Import Bank of the United States deploying financing tools—this is a coordinated national effort. Add to that the U.S. Department of State advancing global partnerships, the U.S. Geological Survey providing critical data, and national laboratories like Idaho National Laboratory driving innovation, and a clear picture emerges: a multi-agency push, long overdue, now gaining real momentum to restore resilience in rare earth and critical mineral supply chains. 

The administration of Donald Trump has played a catalytic role in jumpstarting efforts to rebuild American supply chains.