Rare Earth Exchanges

We're taking you to the heart of one of the most critical and underappreciated battles shaping our modern world: the rare earth element supply chain. Discover the high-stakes dynamics that are fueling international competition, from China’s commanding grip on processing, refining, and value-added production of rare earth elements to the industries and innovations that depend on these indispensable resources. Each week, we expose the geoscience, geopolitics, and economic forces behind the West's growing reliance on China—forces that are hidden in plain sight but impossible to ignore.

Rare Earth Exchanges is a business podcast hosted by Dustin Olsen, with 88 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Dustin Olsen hosts Rare Earth Exchanges, a business show with 88 episodes published.

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  Episode #88

  S2 E88: America's Entire Critical Minerals Stockpile Is Worth $600 Million | Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes

  Oct 1, 202650 minS2

  America's entire strategic minerals stockpile is worth about $600 million. Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes ran the Department of Energy's multi-billion-dollar battery and critical-minerals grant program — and she says the real bottleneck isn't geology, it's price. Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes spent years as the DOE's Deputy Director for Batteries and Critical Materials, deciding which companies got a share of roughly $6 billion in grants and $10 billion in tax credits. She's since founded the family office Smoketree Resources and become COO of M Evo Global Acquisition Corp II (NASDAQ: MEVO), a critical-minerals SPAC, while publishing policy research as a Nonresident Fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute. In this conversation with Dustin Olsen and Daniel O'Connor, she breaks down why Chinese-controlled reference pricing makes it nearly impossible for Western critical-minerals projects to pencil out — and the market fix she's proposing to change that. In this episode: - How the DOE actually decided who got a share of $6B in critical-minerals grants and $10B in tax credits - Why China's "Molycorp playbook" can bankrupt Western competitors without China ever needing to turn a profit - Whether accounting rules could ever reward long-term supply-chain resilience over quarterly returns - Ashley's Baker Institute proposal for a bifurcated reference price — and why "buyer beware" applies to every mining investment - The unrelated Admiral Zumwalt story that turns out to be a pretty good Cold War parallel Guest: Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes, Nonresident Fellow, Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University (former U.S. Deputy Director for Batteries & Critical Materials, Department of Energy) Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly. https://rareearthexchanges.com Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts Disclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

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  Episode #87

  S2 E87 - Rhodium Sells for Up to $12,000 an Ounce. He Says He Has It. | Taylor Ford

  Sep 24, 202636 minS2

  Rhodium fetches $9,500 to $12,000 an ounce, the highest price of any element on the periodic table. Taylor Ford says his Colorado claim assays at six to seven ounces of it per ton. Taylor Ford has spent nearly fifty years in exploration. He worked in Exxon's refineries, built and ran his own refinery in South Texas, and built one of the first horizontal drills. Thirty years ago a book about a platinum producer pulled him toward the mining side, and he has been testing rock ever since. He joins Dustin Olsen and Daniel O'Connor to talk about what he has found, why he believes the United States is two decades behind on critical minerals, and why the people most likely to find the next domestic deposit are the least likely to get funded. In this episode: • Why rhodium, not gold or platinum, is the metal he is chasing • The alumina find that appeared on his last test after nine years of testing • What prospecting actually costs: labs, a 150-element spectrum, thousands of dollars before you know anything • Why he says the industry is scared — administration versus administration, with no consistent minerals policy • Where he would start today if he were new: silver, uranium, aluminum Guest: Taylor Ford, Explorationist, Ark Energy Grades, assay results and production claims in this episode are the guest's own and have not been independently verified by Rare Earth Exchanges. Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly. https://rareearthexchanges.com Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts Disclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

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  Episode #86

  S2 E86: A New US Rare Earth Discovery? First in 40 Years | Don Swartz, Rare Earths Americas

  Sep 17, 202635 minS2

  Rare Earths Americas CEO Don Swartz says there hasn't been a novel rare earth discovery in the US in about 40 years — and his company thinks it just found one, in the coastal sands of Georgia. Four months after taking Rare Earths Americas (NYSE American: REA) public in the first traditional-listing US rare earths IPO since 2010, Don Swartz joins Dustin and Daniel to walk through the Shiloh and Liberty Peak discoveries in Georgia, the Alpha ionic clay project in Brazil, and how the company is running eight drill rigs across two continents at once. In this episode: - How a decades-old uranium survey led to a possible new US rare earth district - Why heavy rare earths trade at roughly a 5x premium in Europe compared to China - Inside Rare Earths Americas' balance sheet and parallel Georgia/Brazil drill programs - Why the US graduates roughly 200 mining engineers a year versus 10,000+ in China - Don's advice for anyone considering a career in critical minerals Guest: Don Swartz, President & CEO, Rare Earths Americas, Inc. Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly. https://rareearthexchanges.com Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts Investor Deck: https://ir.rareearthsamericas.com/news-events/presentations Disclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

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  Episode #85

  S2 E85: We Import $100M in Gemstones America Could Mine Itself | Brian Busse

  Sep 10, 202644 minS2

  Brian Busse has hand-dug what may be the largest single mine in 80 years of American history — and the biggest lesson from three decades underground has nothing to do with luck. Brian Busse is a 30-year veteran miner, jewelry designer, and star of the Weather Channel's reality series Prospectors. He owns the Thank You Lord Mine on Colorado's Mount Antero — one of the largest aquamarine deposits ever discovered — and runs American Gem Trackers. He joins hosts Dustin Olsen and Daniel O'Connor to talk about what three decades of hand-digging taught him about rare earth elements, gold, and gemstones, why American mining culture collapsed after World War II, and what it will take to bring natural-resource development back home. In this episode: - Why rare earth elements aren't actually rare — and what "saturation" really means for finding a mineable deposit - How the Weather Channel's Prospectors doubled the U.S. rock, mineral, and jewelry industries in four years - The beryllium test results behind Busse's Thank You Lord Mine on Mount Antero - Why America imports up to $100 million a year in aquamarine alone — and could mine 20% of it at home - What it's like to hand-dig at 12,000+ feet, raise a family on the mountain, and deal with claim jumpers Guest: Brian Busse, Miner, Jewelry Designer & Founder, American Gem Trackers Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly. https://rareearthexchanges.com Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts Disclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

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  Rare Earth Exchanges

  S2 Bonus: The World's Highest-Grade Rare Earth Deposit Is Almost 3x Lynas's | Brazilian Rare Earths

  Sep 7, 202638 minS2

  Brazilian Rare Earths (ASX: BRE) says its Monte Alto deposit just posted grades more than twice MP Materials' and almost three times Lynas's — making it one of the highest-grade rare earth deposits ever measured. Founder, Managing Director & CEO Bernardo da Veiga returns to the show (his first appearance was Episode 17, back in the exploration days) to walk through BRE's new scoping study: a deliberately split strategy that keeps mining simple and low-impact at Monte Alto while routing concentrate 200km to a downstream separation plant inside the Camaçari petrochemical complex, backed by a 10-year offtake and partnership with French rare earth separator Carester. In this episode: - Why Monte Alto's grade is nearly 3x Lynas's published grade — and what that means for cost - The geology: chevkinite, apatite-britholite, and billions of years of uranium radiation that did the leaching for them - Why processing happens 200km away at Camaçari, not at the mine site - The upside the scoping study didn't price in: ~1 million lbs/year of uranium byproduct - Concentrate sales targeted as early as 2030, full downstream by 2031 - Why Bernardo thinks business people — not geologists — should run mining companies Guest: Bernardo da Veiga, Founder, Managing Director & CEO, Brazilian Rare Earths Limited Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly. https://rareearthexchanges.com Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts Disclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

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