The Greek is at the helm of one of two non-Chinese industries in the world that recycles rare earths on a large scale and is now gearing up for mining in Greenland.

The reason is Konstantinos Karagiannopoulos, managing director of Neo Performance Materials, a Canadian company that recycles rare earths, 17 metals needed for electric vehicles, computers and smartphones, catalysts and powerful magnets. Until now, China has a near-global monopoly on rare earths, as it controls about 80% of their mining and production.

Neo Performance Materials, or Neo as it is more commonly known, has been in the rare earth business for about 30 years and source its raw materials, ore, which it processes to produce rare earths, from Russia, the US and Australia. carrying out chemical cracking at processing plants in Estonia and China.

The company announced on Monday that it is buying rare earth mining rights in Greenland from Hudson Resources, also a small Canadian company based in Vancouver. Mr. Karagiannopoulos, who also served as CEO and Chairman of US rare earths company Molycorp Minerals, told the New York Times that Neo plans to start mining and processing ore in Greenland within the next two to three years, while full production will be developed within five years. After the first stage of processing, the ore will be transported to the Neo chemical processing plant in Estonia.

The company processes 17 metals needed for electric vehicles, computers and smartphones.

This is an attempt by the company to become independent from Russia, but at the same time not to buy ore at prices prevailing on the world market. The prices of the ore from which rare earths are mined are more volatile than most commodities and can often rise more than tenfold in times of geopolitical tensions such as the one we are experiencing, and then collapse when tensions subside.

“I want to be able to supply 100% or 50% of my own raw materials for the industry and 50% of the supply from the market,” the Greek managing director emphasized in a conversation with an American newspaper. He added that when he can use his own raw materials, his industry will sell rare earths at fixed prices and enter into long-term contracts with car manufacturers. In this case, it will promote the development of electric vehicles with predictable production costs and market prices. It should be noted that the Neo’s Magnequench division is actually a former subsidiary of General Motors, which pioneered the production of rare earth magnets in the 1980s. Then General Motors could not foresee the dynamics of the development of electric vehicles at that time and sold the unit in question.

Sources: New York Times, Bloomberg.