By Reuters Staff
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(Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Defense on Monday said it has awarded $30.4 million to Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths Ltd to build a Texas facility for processing specialized minerals used to make weapons, electronics and other goods.
China is the world’s largest producer of rare earth minerals and has threatened to stop their export to the United States, fueling a push inside the U.S. government to boost domestic production.
The Pentagon’s award will fund construction of a facility to process so-called light rare earths, the most-common type of rare earths, commonly found in consumer goods such as cellular phones.