This Friday, at a conference at the Collège de France, the CNRS published the conclusions of a large body of scientific expertise devoted to rare earths. Launching in January 2024, this initiative aims to “establishing scientific knowledge about the use of rare earths throughout their life cycle”.
The study is based on more than 4,100 scientific articles and involves approximately thirty multidisciplinary researchers. To CNRS president, Antoine Petit: “This is an inventory of knowledge about rare earth metals, with what we know and what we don’t know, while relying on the circular economy.”
The aim is clear in this period of supply tensions: to provide input for public debate and decision-making. The 140-page summary of the document underlines that Europe is in a situation of strategic dependence: “Even though 90% of refining capacity is currently controlled by China, France has no subsoil reserves that can be exploited in the short term. » This work is based on several pillars: an in-depth bibliographic review, a transversal approach (engineering sciences, geology, economics, sociology, law), and the desire to translate technical complexity into information that can be used by industry players, public authorities and sectors, so that they can understand “opportunities for responsible use of rare earths. »
