DISPATCH FROM THE MINERAL FRONT: Supply Chain Siege at Round Top Mountain
![empty formal interior, natural lighting through tall windows, wood paneling, institutional architecture, sense of history and permanence, marble columns, high ceilings, formal furniture, muted palette, A long obsidian conference table splitting a cavernous boardroom, its surface veined with thin greenish inclusions resembling rare earth mineral deposits, lit by cold dusk light slanting through floor-to-ceiling windows, dust motes suspended in the air above scattered geologic surveys and export control documents, the silence heavy with unspoken decisions, the city skyline beyond barely visible through smog [Bria Fibo]](https://081x4rbriqin1aej.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/viral-images/30d89ded-99a2-40bc-9405-968f5a17d579_viral_2_square.png "empty formal interior, natural lighting through tall windows, wood paneling, institutional architecture, sense of history and permanence, marble columns, high ceilings, formal furniture, muted palette, A long obsidian conference table splitting a cavernous boardroom, its surface veined with thin greenish inclusions resembling rare earth mineral deposits, lit by cold dusk light slanting through floor-to-ceiling windows, dust motes suspended in the air above scattered geologic surveys and export control documents, the silence heavy with unspoken decisions, the city skyline beyond barely visible through smog [Bria Fibo]")
EL PASO — Rare earths: the invisible war. 4,600 kg in a Virginia sub. 418 kg in an F-35. All trace to China. U.S. scrambles at Round Top Mountain. 10 years. $15B. One dilemma: secure minerals or save rivers? Beijing watches. #MineralWar
EL PASO, TEXAS — The F-35 cannot fire without neodymium. The Virginia-class submarine cannot dive without dysprosium. These elements—scarce in name, vital in practice—are mined in Inner Mongolia, refined in Long Dan, forged in Ganzhou. Here, at Round Top Mountain, the U.S. fights to break the chain. Drilling rigs bite into basalt under dust-choked skies. The air reeks of sulfur and ambition. USA Rare Earth claims one-fifth of domestic demand by 2027. But the land is Apache. The process, still laced with acid. A decade, $15 billion, and a forest of permits stand between America and self-reliance. Meanwhile, Beijing tightens its hold—from Myanmar to Brazil, new mines rise under Chinese oversight. Last month, export controls froze seven magnet types. No shots fired. Production lines faltered. The warning is clear: he who controls the rare earths controls the war after next.
—Marcus Ashworth
Dispatch from Fault Lines S1
Published January 11, 2026