In the chaos of war, there’s nothing to stop Chinese firms from ravaging the landscape and extracting the minerals, which end up in China.

A recent assessment by Australian firm Earth Rarest estimated that Australia could supply up to 20 per cent of global demand for neodymium and praseodymium, but warned that a full replacement of Chinese supply across all 17 rare earth elements remains unlikely in the near term.

Union Minister for Coal and Mines G Kishan Reddy acknowledged India’s past reliance on China for critical rare earth supplies.

A diplomatic breakthrough with China is the only short-term fix for easing the shortage of rare-earth magnets, a top executive at one of the largest auto components maker said, as the exports curbs by the East Asian nation chokes the production of electric vehicles.