What is America’s answer to China’s rare earths dominance? Oklahoma!

REUTERS By Ernest Scheyder

June 18, 2025

SUMMARY

• State offers incentives, infrastructure for minerals industry growth

• China dominates critical minerals and has banned some exports

• State's challenges include education system, lack of mineral deposits

LAWTON, Oklahoma, June 18 (Reuters) - Nestled beneath Oklahoma's Wichita Mountains sits a two-story warehouse containing the only machine in the United States capable of refining nickel, a crucial energy transition metal now dominated by China.

The facility, owned by startup Westwin Elements, aims to help Oklahoma become the epicenter for U.S. critical minerals processing, a sector the country largely abandoned decades ago.

View the full article:REUTERS.com