and super—fast charging. the boss of a british start—up tells us why he's trying to get big vehicles running on electricity and, crucially, how they'll charge wherever you're watching, welcome to the programme. now, this week we're looking at something crucial to the global economy, but chances are you've never even heard of it. rare earth elements power everything from your smartphone to a jet engine, and so many of the other things that help the modern economy function. it will be hugely important in the aland electric vehicle weapons as well. but they're also at the centre of a growing political storm. they're one of the reasons donald trump wants to buy greenland,

and a key source of tension between china and the rest of the world. they've got exotic—sounding names such as holmium and praseodymium, and there are 17 of them. china's former leader and key economic reformer deng xiaoping was early to recognise the value of rare earths and their importance for new tech. in 1987, he's widely reported to have said, "the middle east has oil — china has rare earths." and in the years since, china has built a dominance 90% of refined rare earths come from china, and it's in a good position to keep that dominance going. china has the world's biggest reserves by some distance, followed only by vietnam and brazil. but the refining process is normally bad for the environment and produces radioactive waste, which is why there's only a handful of facilities to do it outside of china.

and 29 other countries to try to reinvent the supply chain. without these minerals, we simply cannot fund... for them, to increase by 400 to 600% over the next several decades. an executive order pledging to make america the world's leading producer and processor. but he's also looking abroad. using military or economic coercion to get his way. i can assure you... you're talking about panama and greenland. no, i can't assure you on either of those two. but i can say this — we need them for economic security. the european union also knows rare earths are critical to its future. supplies of raw materials, clean energy and clean tech from around the world. it's actually eu member denmark

that controls greenland, but the island has a large degree of autonomy and says it's not for sale. translation: we don't want to be danes. - we don't want to be americans. we want to be greenlandic. and, of course, it's the greenlandic people who will decide their own future. so let's get a better understanding of why those materials are so important to the global economy, and why politicians are focused on getting hold of them. i've been speaking to a professor of environmental studies and public policy at new york university. he's a former minister in the greek government and wrote a book called china and the geopolitics of rare earths. professor sophia kalantzakos, welcome to the programme. it's great to have you with us. and there's so much for us to talk about. but explain to me, first of all, why these rare earths are so valuable? what do they do? what do they provide that powers the global economy?

applications, military applications, renewable applications, you name it, they contain rare earths. you know, we embarked on this green transition for which rare earths and that's the electrification of transport and the diversification of our energy mix to include renewables. so we did this to offset the worst of the climate crisis. at the same time, we also thought the fourth industrial revolution, and the introduction of al, was not only possible, but we felt that this would make our economies less material intensive. but these applications require rare earths, but also insatiable amounts of energy. and i think that is a huge problem. chips need rare earths. the magnets that go into some of these technologies, they all need rare earths. rare earths are going to, again, be central in this transition as well.

are there enough of them to go around to meet that demand? at the moment we have enough rare earths, but as there's this huge economic competition happening, the west has woken up it's not only the materials, but also the supply chains from mine to market. the west or china's competitors need to ensure that there are rare earths in other countries beyond china. to europe and its allies. were going to be indispensable. it became a strategic asset for them. it became... in certain technologies... why is china ahead in evs?

it needed to leapfrog. it realised that tech and the electrification were going to be really important for its economy, the west relied very much on globalisation, because there was a market in china, and everybody wanted to be next to all of the various factories that produced the components that went into the final application. the next 12 months, 2a months? what does this market look like? who will be the dominant players and will it still be such a political issue as it is now?

in the next few months. create...you know, make magnets in the european union. it's looking to build partnerships with other countries let me also say that, you know, we hear a lot about exploration in all these different parts of the world. these projects are either very early stages or they will take at least ten years to come online. so not much is going to be changing. the idea is to do things that is mindful environmentally doable because it is not only those

the next 12 months, 2a months? first of all, there's not going to be a change in the dominant player, if we're talking about rare earths europe has been trying to diversify its supply chain, create...you know, make magnets in the european union. it's looking to build partnerships with other countries let me also say that, you know, we hear a lot about exploration ten years to come online. so not much is going to be changing. given the state of things right now, do you they will do you think they will block access to their refining, but also to that finished product?—

to their refining, but also to that finish producers ?_ to their refining, but also to that finish producers in _ to their refining, but also to that finish producers in the _ to their refining, but also to that finish producers in the united "e earth producers in the united states are being refined in china still. so nobody is trying to the nobody is trying to exclude the states, perse, i united states, per se, i think it's a �*what united states, per se, i think it's a �* what the united states, per se, i think it's a �*what the united a question of what the united states, what kind messages the states, what kind of messages the united states is the until now, under the biden up until now, under the biden administration, logic was we administration, the logic was we our allies and we compete our rivals. now that logic with our rivals. now that logic has been tossed out the window, so it is not at clear how things not at all clear how things will work out. from mine to market, while others try to also build resilience and diversify. thank you. thank you so much for having me. of these tensions is, aptly enough, called it's mining one of the world's

largest deposits of rare i've been speaking to its chief executive. tony sage, welcome to the programme. now, talk to me about your investment in greenland. what is it that you're digging out of the ground, by any one jurisdiction. and in this case, it happens to be not a friendly jurisdiction to the west — china. china controls 97% of the world's rare earths. why it's so important, digging it out of the ground outside of thatjurisdiction, is because they do control 97% of the world's supply. and you're using it for everything. i'm on at the moment, you're using it for missile systems, elon musk couldn't send a rocket up into space without that satellite.

so, really, everything in the modern world comes down to these rare earth metals. so vital to the global economy. what is that like? is difficult in this climate. if you like to call it that. we don't see it like that, obviously, in the mining industry, because the whole of the western and human civilisation now is based on everything that comes out of the earth. so you cannot really progress. if all mining stopped tomorrow, the world would stop in about a month. so it's become very, very political in a way,

and a half, four years ago floated the idea... five years ago, in fact, floated the idea of buying greenland. went to the white house and explained what was there. and what is there is the largest... deposit in the world. it's 4.7 billion tonnes. everything out at... all the rare earths out of it. that's how big the deposit is. and there's not really any other big deposit of rare earths in western countries. there's some in australia, there's some in the us, which is obviously not in the interest of the eu, not in the interest of nato and not in the interests of the us look, me personally,

i didn't get any pressure, from the white house, not to sell any of the rare earth to china. um, hence, ithink, one of the reasons he decided to sell it to us. and there's three or four. the main one obviously is the department of defense. so we'll be definitely... and the state department.

to you about, and what those conversations will look like? yeah. of china and russia, to keep the whole of the supply chain of these rare earth minerals. so what the defense department will do, they would introduce us to people like lockheed martin, to raytheon, to boeing, and companies like that that would turn our product tesla and those companies will be using from apple, even meta

and all those are formed from the rare earths that are on our property. for want of a better word, because you could sort of name your price, couldn't you? that you've got access to this valuable reserve that no—one else has. "don't sell it to them. sell it to us." look, um, the interesting thing about mining is other people find... eight years ago, no—one really was mining lithium. the same thing will happen with rare earths. we're in a very good position to seek a subsidy. um, for example, rare

earths is that important, the australian government has never done this before, they gave in western australia. the us government under biden had 1.5 billion earmarked for rare earth projects in the west, mainly the united states. there's two or three up—and—coming ones there. we know where it is. it's relatively cheap to extract. it's relatively... it's very environmentally friendly. a lot of these rare earths are in areas which could be fragile, especially the ones in the united states. stuff, isn't there?

the mine itself will be sustainable. we hope to start mining late next year. we've got already an environmental approval and our mining licence to mine 500,000 tonnes per annum. the rare earths part...part of the, uh, the equation is going to be a negotiation. so we'll be taking another few bog samples of our ore to the three laboratories and just see which one and which process is

we're happy with either because it's going to go service the west, so it's not going back into china or russia. does this take on you? what pressure doesn't put on you? it does. it's midnight, i'm talking to you. ijust want does. it's midnight, i'm talking to you. i just want to get our story across. some peoplejust don't you. i just want to get our story across. some people just don't see us as a company. when you take on a role, you take come role, you take on all of it come i didn't expected to be this didn't eepeetee te be time '*' w '*' ,. didn't eepeetee te be time '*' w '*' ,. didn't expect didn't eepeetee te be the w w' w' w didn't expect mr trump to political, didn't expect mr trump to go this hard in the press i go this hard in the press come i didn't expect him to have a conversation the denmark prime quickly??? eifz’i,” te, quickly post; m7 i: 7 b thickly post my quickly post my gut knowing :kly post my gut knowing and post my gut knowing and being on;ut knowing and being on the feeling knowing and being on the ground for three years, the local population do not to be out of they want independence, denmark, they—went independence; " don't want denmark; they—went independence; " don't want to be part denmark; they—want independence; " don't want to be part of the us they don't want to be part of the us either. i think they will try to force a referendum, the danes will have to accept it and they

have to accept it and then they probably do a deal with the us probably will do a deal with the us separately but not a separately but not become a territory, are very fiercely territory, they are very fiercely independent. thank you. no problem. ra re rare earth minerals are for vehicles. china for electric vehicles. china” a... produces more than three currently produces more than three quarters of all ev batteries and nearly two thirds of all tvs. true in the production of electric vehicles. china currently produces more than three—quarters trucks, buses, coaches and construction vehicles would need but one uk firm says it has the answer, and i've been speaking

to its chief executive. jean de la verpilliere, welcome to talking business. it's so good to have you here and talk to me, first of all, if you will, about what it is you do because you're trying to solve a big problem for the ev industry, just explain that. so, as you know, there's a general trend towards electrification. it started with consumer electronics evolved into passenger cars, what we are doing is really addressing what we see as the next wave of this movement, which is the electrification of heavy—duty vehicles. and the likes, which are more difficult to electrify. and we, echion technologies, are a spin—out of the university of cambridge and have developed technologies to address precisely this. why are they more difficult to power with electricity? these heavy—duty vehicles are, you know, by definition, bigger. they require bigger batteries, and they're used... they're used typically very intensively. so sometimes, you know,

22, 23, 2a hours a day, they are used in industrial and commercial settings where you cannot afford to have your vehicle sitting idle, because that costs money. environments, hot environments. all of these things are just very difficult for the battery. limitations at that... place on batteries. whenever we talk about evs, the first thing that a lot of people will talk about is that range anxiety, worrying that, you know, the battery will run out before they get where they need to get to. about long—distance lorry drivers, you know, the demands how do you solve that? so our approach is to say, "well,

actually you don't need "a gigantic battery that will last for a very long time. "instead, go with a smaller battery that, 0k, will carry "less energy, but you'll be able to recharge this battery "very fast, maybe in five or ten minutes." which means that, actually, you don't care about the range. all you care about is getting to your next charge point. and by doing that, then all of a sudden, you know, you don't need to have a battery that weighs multiple tonnes, that accounts for more than 50% of the cost of the vehicle. you can do with a smaller battery that is just the right size for what you're trying to do and you recharge it more, and we believe that is economically more sustainable. in many cases, what the user wants is, you know, we're really targeting the recharge time that is under ten minutes. in this programme, we're talking a lot about the sort of geopolitical war that's going on right now

about access to things like rare earths and rare minerals that are used in things like batteries or mobile phones or other bits of tech, particularly things like computer chips. um, are you confident that the world has enough of this stuff to create the batteries that you quite clearly need for your business? the answer is not... so, the technology that echion is using, in particular, relies on the mineral called niobium, you know, which may sound like a scary rare element, but that is actually not. it's as abundant as lead, for instance, in the earth's crust. the question is more, you know, can people mine it in a way that makes sense environmentally but also economically, of course, so that it gets to the end applications? these are definitely good questions that i think need to be considered at the very beginning of any technology choice. is there a full circle moment here as well? because i know you've got trials currently going on with mining firms in australia using your technology.

so, the firms that could be digging this stuff out of the ground actually could be powered by the stuff that they're digging out. yeah. no, that's a very interesting use case. one application in the heavy—duty vehicle space that is getting a lot of attention at the moment is the electrification of mining vehicles. so these are, you know, typically very, very large trucks, you know, 300—tonne trucks. the size of a house. they're gigantic. they burn incredible quantities of diesel fuel at the moment. you know, thousands of litres per day. so there's a real motivation to electrify them, not only from an environmental point of view, but actually also from it's not something that standard battery technology, standard battery chemistries, can do well. we believe we have the solution to this problem, and that's why we're pushing our technology into these applications. what is the challenge that you face

the industry that you still in the industry that you still don't have the answer to yet? what still eludes you?— eludes you? three aspects, the asect, eludes you? three aspects, the aspect. can _ eludes you? three aspects, the aspect. can you _ eludes you? three aspects, the aspect, can you prove - eludes you? three aspects, the aspect, can you prove it? - eludes you? three aspects, the aspect, can you prove it? is- eludes you? three aspects, the aspect, can you prove it? is the aspect, can you prove it? is the aspect of does it all makes sense financially? than there is a financially?sthan there is a of our financialtyll'hah there is a of our people ready to question of our people ready to exchange and ready to take risks to get there? jean de la verpilliere, thank you so much. thanks for being with us. my pleasure. thank you. that's all for this week. you can keep up with the latest on the global economy on the bbc news website and the smartphone app. but for this week that's all. we'll see you very soon. bye— bye. hello there. a rather grotty day for many of us on saturday with low grey cloud, drizzle, further outbreaks of rain, and some of that rain turned to snow over the tops of the hills in the colder air. a different story, though,

further north and west, lots of blue sky and sunshine here in argyll and bute. it's just more of the same as we head through the next few days. so still feeling chilly, especially in exposure to that brisk easterly wind, more low grade cloud and some drizzle, further showers. but always sunnier in the north and the west in the shelter of that easterly wind, which we are set to keep with high pressure out towards the east, the wind through the day on sunday. this is how we'll begin the morning. so where you see the map tinged in blue, chance for patchy frost. perhaps lows of —7 degrees celsius underneath clear skies in the sheltered glens of scotland. but here's some brightness and some sunshine to start the day. in particular, a lot of cloud in particular, a lot of cloud is starting to fill in, is starting to fill in, again, some hill fog, again, some hill fog, the cloud producing some something a little brighter developing out towards western wales and south west england. the cloud producing some but temperature wise, we won't make it much past 5—8

celsius, a little less cold than on saturday. but more showers as that easterly wind picks up on sunday night and into monday. this is how we'll begin the new working week, again, with a bit of patchy frost, especially where we keep those clear skies in the north and the west. and then into the start of the week, where we'll keep the north and the east, the easterly wind is picking up, it will drive in more showers. some of those showers wintry over the pennines, but some brighter skies, i think, for western wales, south west england and certainly for northern western scotland and for northern ireland. but a drop in temperature again in that now colder feeling air, and there will be a lot of added wind chill factor in too. it's more of the same again on tuesday. plenty of clouds, some breaks in the cloud towards the west. england, but do keep an eye on the forecast here. so below the seasonal average, and there won't be too much improvement either as we head through the rest of the week. so we are set to stay in that colder air, perhaps something a bit brighter later on through the week. you can check the weather for your local area, of course,

using our bbc weather app. bye for now.

over its land policy — a move the country says, fails to recognise the history of apartheid. hello, i'm carl nasman. israel and hamas followed through with their fifth hostage and prisoner exchange on saturday since the ceasefire agreement went into effect three weeks ago. israel's prime minister expressed shock at the condition of the three hostages that were released by hamas. eli sharabi, ohad ben ami, and or levy all appeared to be gaunt, frail and weak. they were freed in exchange for the release by israel of 183 palestinian prisoners — seven of whom had to be taken to hospital, according to the palestinian red crescent. israel says its sending a delegation to doha for the next phase of ceasefire talks. from jerusalem, our reporter

joe inwood sent this update