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U.S. and Dominican leaders discuss rare earth deposits; preliminary estimate cited at about 100 million tons
Summary
Leaders said U.S. technical teams, including the Army Corps of Engineers, are assessing rare earth mineral reserves in the Dominican Republic; officials described gross reserves around 100 million tons and said a state company has been created to manage development.
Dominican and U.S. officials described preliminary findings and shared interest in developing the Dominican Republic's rare earth resources, which both sides said could be strategically important for modern technologies.
President of the Dominican Republic (name not specified in transcript) and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the two governments discussed "development of rare earths, a resource that has great potential for the Dominican Republic." Rubio said U.S. experts, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, have worked to identify rare earth elements and that "we are not ready to announce anything official at this point, but we will discuss the opportunity."
Rubio shared a preliminary figure, saying "we have gross reserves. Then we will see what the net reserves are. But the gross reserves are of about 100,000,000 tons. That is significant. In about 2, 3 months, we will have the numbers with precision." He also said the United States can share preliminary positive information and offered technical assistance.
The Dominican president said the country has created "a public company, a state company, to be able to exploit these rare earth elements," adding that the deposits are the property of the Dominican Republic and should benefit its people. Both officials framed development in terms of economic opportunity for jobs and investment; Rubio noted U.S. interest in nearshore supplies for defense and advanced-technology industries.
Officials did not provide a detailed exploration report, a timeline for production, environmental safeguards, or expected revenues. Rubio characterized the data as preliminary and said further technical work is required to assess net reserves and market viability.
