When officials in Hondo, a small farming town just 40 miles west of San Antonio, Texas, announced in February that a new rare earth elements processing plant would come to town, they were greeted by complaints from local residents.
“Hello, more pollution” read one comment on the county’s Facebook page, after it was announced that Lynas, an Australian rare earths company, had received a $30m US government grant to open a new processing facility with US company Blue Line.
The plant is just one of many that the Biden administration hopes will open in the US, which relies almost entirely on China for its access to the rare earths used in high-tech products ranging from smartphones to F-35 fighter jets.
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