Ideas
Heidi Crebo-Rediker
Senior Fellow, Center for Geoeconomics Studies, Council on Foreign Relations; former Chief Economist, US State Department
9:11
US critical minerals innovation can leapfrog China.
China's dominance of rare earths, especially heavy rare earths used in magnets, is a strategic chokehold, but the US cannot outmine, outprocess, or outspend China at scale or cost effectively. The better path is to leverage US strengths in research and innovation—advanced materials, biotech, and waste recovery—to leapfrog the chokehold; many technologies are now ready to scale, but need coordinated policy, offtake support, and government risk capital.
Heidi Crebo-Rediker
Senior Fellow, Center for Geoeconomics Studies, Council on Foreign Relations; former Chief Economist, US State Department
13:48
Niron scales rare-earth-free magnets in Minnesota.
Niron Magnetics has commercialized a rare-earth-free magnet based on University of Minnesota material design and is scaling up with a large new facility in Minnesota. The material-engineering approach drastically reduces or eliminates rare earth content in magnets, offering a cleaner domestic alternative.
Heidi Crebo-Rediker
Senior Fellow, Center for Geoeconomics Studies, Council on Foreign Relations; former Chief Economist, US State Department
14:06
Biotech can cleanly unlock critical minerals.
A basket of biotech innovations—engineered proteins and microbes—can extract critical minerals from waste or old mines cleanly, quickly, and cost-competitively, potentially leapfrogging traditional dirty mining. The speaker calls this revolutionary and disruptive, with companies already commercializing and scaling.
Heidi Crebo-Rediker
Senior Fellow, Center for Geoeconomics Studies, Council on Foreign Relations; former Chief Economist, US State Department
14:14
Engineered proteins extract rare earths from waste.
Alter Research Technology, affiliated with Ames National Lab, uses programmed proteins that target and extract specific rare earth elements from mine waste and tailings. The process is clean, fast, and relies on the large domestic waste resource, making it a disruptive biotech route to rare earths.
Heidi Crebo-Rediker
Senior Fellow, Center for Geoeconomics Studies, Council on Foreign Relations; former Chief Economist, US State Department
15:19
Waste is America's next rare earth mine.
The US has huge domestic waste streams—mine tailings, coal ash, industrial waste, and e-waste such as old hard drives, phones, and batteries—that contain significant rare earths and magnets. The speaker argues waste should be treated as America's next mine, requiring policy to track waste, restrict exports, and incentivize recovery; Vulcan already uses domestic recycled e-waste to make magnets.
Heidi Crebo-Rediker
Senior Fellow, Center for Geoeconomics Studies, Council on Foreign Relations; former Chief Economist, US State Department
19:42
Vulcan scales domestic rare earth magnet supply.
Vulcan Elements is a poster child for combining technology, industrial policy, and commercial demand: it closed a $1.4B Series A consortium with ReElement Technologies, which recycles magnets and manufactures magnets from rare earths. Vulcan is scaling quickly, aims to roll out product by 2027, has funding from every military branch with built-in military demand plus semiconductor/aerospace targets, and uses a fully domestic e-waste-to-magnet cycle.
Heidi Crebo-Rediker
Senior Fellow, Center for Geoeconomics Studies, Council on Foreign Relations; former Chief Economist, US State Department
37:12
Rio Tinto microbes unlock Arizona copper.
Rio Tinto is using a proprietary new microbe at old Arizona mines to extract copper that was previously uneconomic, doing so cleanly and cost-competitively. The speaker cites this as a large mining company embracing biotech to unlock value from closed or marginal assets, with rollout in the coming months.
This Bloomberg Odd Lots video, published February 05, 2026,
features Heidi Crebo-Rediker
discussing Critical minerals innovation, Niron Magnetics, Biotech for critical minerals, Alter Research Technology, Rare earth recycling, E-waste recycling, VULCAN_ELEMENTS, ReElement Technologies, RIO.
7 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.
Speakers:
Heidi Crebo-Rediker
· Tickers:
Critical minerals innovation,
Niron Magnetics,
Biotech for critical minerals,
Alter Research Technology,
Rare earth recycling,
E-waste recycling,
VULCAN_ELEMENTS,
ReElement Technologies,
RIO
