Timeline: China and Rare Earths
How China went from deposits in Inner Mongolia to holding most of the world's rare-earth mining and refining.
Chronologies from Magna Bureau — the dated record behind the stories, from Hormuz to Suez.
Last updated: October 2026
Magna Bureau's timelines lay out the dated record behind major stories, twenty entries at a time. Three timelines open the section: Strait of Hormuz crises, China's rise as a rare-earth power, and the Suez Canal from 1869 to today. Read them in order.
How China went from deposits in Inner Mongolia to holding most of the world's rare-earth mining and refining.
Forty-seven years of revolution, tanker wars, seizures, and threats to close the world's most consequential oil passage.
Nationalisation, wars, an eight-year closure, a six-day blockage — the canal that keeps remaking world trade.