US and Thailand to cooperate on critical minerals
The countries have signed a non-binding MOU to diversify global critical minerals supply chains and promote investment.
In a continued attempt to reduce American reliance on China for critical minerals, the USA is turning to other countries. According to a US briefing, the MOU supports exploration, extraction, processing, optimised end-use applications, recovery and recycling.
Thailand has several critical minerals, including rare-earth elements, tin, and tungsten. The country has been working to align policies with ESG standards to ensure sustainable development. However, it seems that actual rare-earth output faces a long wait for infrastructure, regulatory, and processing delays to clear before materialising at scale.
