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The 42
2 days ago
- Sport
- The 42
'A lot of boys here who are still 15-years-old have got agents'
THE LIONS ARE training at a big Aussie Rules school this week in Melbourne, but last week's preparation for their first Test win over the Wallabies was done at a Brisbane school that has become a rugby production line. Anglican Church Grammar School, better known as 'Churchie,' is one of the leading rugby schools in Australia. The Lions trained there on their 2013 tour and after Andy Farrell and co. visited on a recce mission earlier this year, they booked in again. Wales and the All Blacks have also based themselves in Churchie before big Tests in recent years. It's not hard to see why. The school grounds are pristine, and the rugby facilities are top-class. The main rugby pitch where the Lions trained is excellent, while the gym is as good as what many professional rugby clubs have. And professional rugby clubs – both in union and league – are watching Churchie closely. Back in March, there were headlines in Aussie rugby when 16-year-old Churchie player Visesio Kite joined Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle. He's one of four or five young players that French clubs have signed from Brisbane's elite GPS schools competition this year. Sio Kite played for the Reds U16s. Reds Reds Brisbane's GPS also includes big schools like Nudgee and Brisbane Boys' College, where Brad Thorn coaches. Churchie are among its top dogs. At nearly 6ft 8ins and 150kg, Kite was hard to miss when he was still in Churchie playing tighthead prop. He will be converted into a second row in La Rochelle, who did a good job of convincing the teenager to move across the world. 'Obviously, we'd love to have kept him at school for another two years,' says the Churchie First XV head coach, England native Andrew Brownhill. 'But it's probably a real positive of the school in that he wouldn't have got that opportunity if he hadn't come to a school like Churchie. 'He's a good human with a great family. The school helped him with good academics and then on top of that, his rugby ability, his S&C. He can really move. He was averaging nearly six kilometers per game as a tighthead prop. And he was more than just your classic ball-running type, he can pass the ball. He's more of a playmaker as well.' Brownhill says O'Gara's personal touch was important. 'The family went over to La Rochelle for a week and Ronan O'Gara met them, they introduced him to Will Skelton, and straight away they had a connection with the family. 'Ronan O'Gara was amazing, met him when he was just a 15-year-old boy. What other head coaches of professional teams are meeting academy boys to give them a handshake and meet the family.' Advertisement This kind of development is another challenge for Rugby Australia, who have complained to World Rugby about their players being poached by French clubs, but it's increasingly a reality because rugby league also continues to lure union talent into the NRL. Churchie is an obvious place to look because they have such a strong programme. NRL superstar Kalyn Ponga came through the school, signing a contract at the age of 15 to move into rugby league when he graduated. Ponga's highlights from his Churchie days are worth a watch. Jaydn Su'A is another current NRL star who played union in the school. It's increasingly common practice for the NRL to send young players into these top fee-paying union schools on scholarships so they can develop, then come back into league. Wallabies duo Quade Cooper and David Pocock were on the same GPS-winning Churchie side in 2005, while Liam Wright, who was Joe Schmidt's first Wallabies captain, is another old boy. So the current crop of ambitious young players have plenty of big-name role models. Brownhill and his assistant coaches – former Scotland centre Phil Burleigh and ex-Queensland Reds out-half Ben Lucas – do their best to help those talented enough to be pushing towards professional rugby with calm advice. 'But a lot of boys who are still in Year 10 and Year 11 [15 and 16-year-olds] have got agents who deal with that stuff on their behalf,' says Brownhill. The Lions doing analysis at Churchie. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO 'We've got ex-pros coaching in our set-up with Phil and Benny, so boys can go and ask them for advice. They've been through that process themselves, but a lot of the boys have agents now.' Academics are obviously the priority in Churchie, but rugby is busy too. As Brownhill leads a tour of the facilities, there's a group of 13-year-olds working on their mobility out on one of the ovals, while an older group of boys are in the gym lifting weights. 'It's run like a professional programme,' says Brownhill of Churchie's rugby set-up. The First XV have review meetings each Monday to analyse their last game, as well as doing a gym session and position-specific skills work that day. Tuesday and Thursday afternoons are the big pitch training sessions, with another gym hit at 6am on Thursdays. On Friday, it's the captain's run. Games are on Saturdays. As well as the coaching ticket including two recently retired former pro players in Burleigh and Lucas, Churchie has two full-time S&C staff as well as two further part-time employees in that area. The players wear GPS devices for training and games so their workloads can be closely monitored. At U18 level, Churchie can have up to seven teams playing on the same day, with similar depth down through the age grades. Their biggest matches attract crowds of more than 5,000. The sheer level of competition and quality in the GPS is brilliant for player development. 'The kids are playing at such a high level in front of thousands of people every week,' says Brownhill. The 42 The 42 'And that's pretty cool to be part of as a young man. It's all live-streamed for people to watch as well. 'The academy system here is run differently to back home. The academies in the UK see the boys once or twice a week from the age of 13 and they still play their school rugby. But here, the majority of the development is done at school. 'The Super Rugby franchises get them at the end when they finish at 18, but a lot of the groundwork is done here. And that's the quality of the coaching and the environment they in these schools.' The biggest downside Brownhill sees in the GPS is that it's so short. There are nine fee-paying schools who all play each other once, with no play-offs at the end. The team that finished top of the ladder gets the Premiership trophy. It's shared if schools are level. The Sydney GPS competition involves home and away games, so double the season, and Brownhill thinks that should be mimicked. A six-month pre-season for such a short run of games in Brisbane schools isn't ideal. Brownhill also reckons that there is some over-coaching in Australian schoolboy rugby, having seen 'play books the size of Bibles' in some places, but on the whole he reckons the Brisbane GPS is an excellent pipeline for future pros. And Churchie is one of the best. 'They call it a nursery of talent in terms of the rugby players it produces,' says Brownhill. 'But it's also a good place for the lads to get a good grounding as humans as well, which is important. The school, and rightly so, is very academically focused, so kids have got a good grounding where they've got the grades they need.' Churchie head coach Andrew Brownhill. As well as being a fantastic place for young athletes to develop, the GPS competition is an ideal environment for a young coach like Brownhill. His predecessors have gone on to full-time professional roles in Australia and England, so the 33-year-old has ambitions of doing something similar. Brownhill played underage rugby for Scotland but started coaching at the age of 20, soon joining the Worcester Warriors academy and then moving to Gloucester, as well as working closely with former England flanker Lewis Moody to establish rugby programs in state schools in the UK. Former England scrum-half Shaun Perry was another big mentor, as was the influential Russell Earnshaw. From there, Brownhill became head of rugby at Park House School and started working with the Scotland-Qualified programme, identifying and coaching young Scottish-eligible players in England. He always wanted to coach abroad and it was former Scotland defence coach Matt Taylor, an Aussie, who helped connect him with a new job as Waratahs U18s coach. This was during the Covid-19 lockdown, but he got an exemption and had three happy years in Sydney, where he also worked with Shute Shield side Norths. The Churchie role came up last year and Brownhill jumped at the chance. He's open-minded about the future and would happily take on an adventure in professional Japanese or French rugby if the right job was available. For now, he's loving being in the thick of Aussie schoolboy rugby. Churchie are hoping that the Lions' visit will be the good luck charm this season.
RTÉ News
16-07-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Dan Sheehan: These are the games you think about
The final selections meetings have been held and, by now, the players will have been told if they've made the cut of 23 for Saturday's opening British and Irish Lions Test against the Wallabies in Brisbane. Tomorrow, Andy Farrell is expected to name a side with a heavy Irish presence, even if injuries to Garry Ringrose and Mack Hansen may reduce the level of green in the matchday squad. While spaces in the centre and back row appear to be up for grabs, other positions have been nailed down for some time. After captain Maro Itoje, Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan is possibly the next automatic name on the team sheet. Of all the predicted line-ups doing the rounds, only Ronan O'Gara has been so bold as to leave Sheehan out of his starting team, and the La Rochelle coach caveated his selection by saying he was keeping his stronger front row back in reserve. There's a nervous energy in the air, and Sheehan wants to soak it all up. "It's just an exciting week," the hooker (below) says of the mood-shift in Lions camp. "These are the three games you think about when you talk about a tour. "Everyone has been trying to put their best foot forward to be selected and it is a bit of an anxious wait to see what the selection is, but all we can do is put our best foot forward in training and do what's best for the team as a collective. "Everyone has gone up another level, and the hunger is there to make sure you're on the teamsheet and produce a win on Saturday." The 26-year-old has emerged as one of the key leaders in this Lions squad, even on his first tour, and was captain for the opening game of the tour against Western Force in Perth, scoring a try just three minutes into the game. The Lions will come into their Test series against the Wallabies as heavy favourites to win, something they haven't done since their previous visit to Australia in 2013. With Australian rugby at something of a low ebb, the expectation is to win well, rather than just win. And while it risks offering free motivation to the Wallabies, Sheehan (below) says his side have set themselves a high standard to reach. "Every team in the world wants to be the best team they've featured in. It hasn't changed in my mindset. "You can juice up anything. I don't think that [expectation] is anything too crazy. "It's obviously everyone's goal to win a Test series, and to try to be a step beyond the last squad. "The way rugby has evolved, every team should be better than the last, and it's a massive goal of ours to make sure we reach our potential. "I think if we do reach our potential, we have the possibility to be one of the best teams [in Lions history]. "It would be a good story and a good legacy to have a winning series. We haven't delved too much into the wider picture. "We did at the start when we were trying to frame the mindset, but this week has been all about Saturday, and how our prep goes into winning this game on Saturday, and we're going to throw everything at that. "There's going to be no holding anything back, or waiting for the next two Tests. It's all about Saturday. "We're in a good spot. Lads are hungry, and we're expecting the Wallabies to be hungry. I think it'll be a good Test and fireworks on Saturday. "We've seen it the last couple of years, they've probably been written up as underdogs and they've put in some massive performances, shaken some big teams." Having blown hot and cold in several of their warm-up games, the Lions finally moved up a gear in their final pre-Test outing against an Australia and New Zealand invitational side last week, with a 48-0 hammering in Adelaide. Sheehan wasn't involved, with the majority of the Test side rested ahead of this weekend in Brisbane. The tight schedule of the games has been cited as a big reason for the lack of consistency in performance so far, with the Saturday-Wednesday games and accompanying travel limiting the amount of pitch time for training. There will be one more midweek game in Melbourne next Tuesday, although the raft of recent call-ups will ensure the Test players won't have to double-up at Marvel Stadium next Tuesday against the First Nations and Pasifika XV. As tough as the schedule has been, Sheehan says it has given the group a tough skin as they had towards the business end of the tour. He said: "It's very unique, I think, because I've never in my professional career had to double up two games in a week and the amount of different games we've had to now. "It's quite similar to a World Cup, just on steroids in some ways with the amount of games we have. It's been so enjoyable. "Just talking to a lot of the lads, we've enjoyed the last two weeks of chaos and just having to make it work. "I think that brings teams a lot closer as well. You might be a bit bumped and bruised and you just have to go out and fight for the guy beside you. "He's only someone you've maybe known for four weeks and I think people gain respect that way. "There is a different feeling around it because it's so new and it's with so many unfamiliar faces and I think we've been putting our own stamp on it well so far. "I think we do have to find another level. "The quality of opposition has gone up a considerable amount, especially on the back of the last couple of weeks where a lot of those teams are missing their big internationals. "So we do have to be a lot better. We've had some close games in the last few weeks so we definitely need to step up."
Extra.ie
15-07-2025
- Sport
- Extra.ie
Leinster and La Rochelle set for another epic encounter as Champions Cup fixtures announced
Leinster-La Rochelle have had one of rugby's best rivalries in the 2020's. They've contested in two of the most competitive and thrilling Investec Champions Cup finals in recent memories and all their other clashes bar one (the quarter-final in 2024) have been nail-biters that went right to the wire. La Rochelle have the upper hand, winning the two finals but Leinster have won the last three encounters, including two away wins in the Stade Marcel Deflandre. With the added element of Ronan O'Gara coaching against his old foes this rivalry really has lived up to all expectations in recent years. The La Rochelle team celebrate after lifting the Champions Cup. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile The next installment in this rivalry was announced last month when the two were drawn in the same Champions Cup pool for the third year in-a-row and now today we finally have a date for the match. The EPCR confirmed on Tuesday that Leinster will host Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle in round 3 of the pool stages on Saturday 10 January 2026, with kick-off slated for 5:30pm. One thing to note in the announcement is the lack of confirmation of a venue for the match. Ciarán Frawley, Jamison Gibson-Park and Hugo Keenan after their side's victory against La Rochelle. Pic: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile Leinster played the majority of their home games at the Aviva Stadium last season due to renovations to the RDS Arena and are set to continue their residency in Lansdowne Road for the 2025/26 season. Leinster have also since 2024 hosted a number of games at Croke Park, including an interprovincial clash against Munster and the URC Grand Final against the Bulls last month. With a game as prestigious and as hyped as Leinster-La Rochelle we could see the clash on its biggest stage yet at Croke Park. The historic venue would be the perfect stage for such a rivalry and if Leinster give plenty of notice, they'll back themselves to be able to get close to selling out the stadium. Their other pool stage games have also been set. They begin their quest for a fifth star at home to Harlequins on 6 December 2025 before they travel to Leicester to face the Tigers on December 12. They then face La Rochelle in Dublin before finishing the pool stages in a first-time ever clash against Bayonne on 17 January. Ryan Baird, right, and Josh van der Flier of Leinster celebrate win against Stade Rochelais. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile Munster too have confirmed their Champions Cup fixtures as they begin their campaign away to English Premiership Champions Bath on 6 December. They will then make their return to Supervalu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on 13 December as they host Gloucester in Cork. Munster players make their way on to the pitch at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile They'll then travel away to the Stade Felix Mayol to face Toulon on 11 January before finishing their pool stage at home to Castres on 17 January. We may have all eyes set on the Lions but the club season is only around the corner yet again as Leinster will look to finally end their European hoodoo and get their fifth star.
Irish Times
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Ronan O'Gara: ‘I think this tour is about the Lions being the best version of themselves'
When Ronan O'Gara landed in Brisbane on Wednesday of last week after his economy class, long-haul trek from La Rochelle, he was caught by surprise. He'd presumed that, as usual, he would be doing prematch, half-time and post-match punditry on Sky Sports' coverage of the Reds- Lions match. But, instead, he was to be co-commentator alongside Miles Harrison and Dan Biggar. In his various stints as a TV pundit, he'd never been a co-commentator before and he was also jet-lagged and whacked. But, 'infused with coffee', he actually found co-commentary 'way better', 'more challenging' and that 'it comes out naturally'. And besides, the more of ROG, the better. Former outhalves generally see the game and impart more information about a match than most other retired players, and certainly the O'Gara-Biggar double act has raised the bar. O'Gara describes Biggar as 'extremely impressive for a guy who's just retired. No grieving period. A lot of players, I think, struggle retiring. They're so well treated in Ireland. And then it's an awful bang. It's a massive fall off a cliff, although it's different from my time. A lot of guys nowadays are prepared for what's coming next. READ MORE 'But the player has to accept that he's not a star asset any more. He's retired. They won't be falling over you. That's what happens when you retire. Be very grateful for what you have but your time is over. There's a business to the sport as well. The show must go on. It's on to the next kid now.' O'Gara, who travelled back to La Rochelle on Thursday, revealed an ulterior motive for his eight-day trek through Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide for the Lions' matches against the Reds, the Waratahs and the Brumbies. 'It's built around getting to see coaches when I'm here,' he says. His passion for the game and coaching La Rochelle remains undimmed. He's just had his most trying season as a coach, when a winless nine-game run was arrested by five victories in a row only for a last-day loss in Pau to deny them a play-off place by one point. But it's made him even hungrier for next season's rebuild and twin assault on a first Bouclier de Brennus and third Champions Cup under his watch. Their preseason begins on Monday and although players will make a scattered return, critically his key men will have a proper preseason. Dan Biggar and Ronan O'Gara providing punditry at the Queensland Reds vs British & Irish Lions match at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane on July 2nd. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho He spent time with the Canberra Raiders Rugby League team on Monday, with the Brumbies on Tuesday and on Wednesday caught up with Stephen Larkham. Munster will 'always be home' and O'Gara was fascinated to hear Larkham's thoughts on his three years there. Larkham revealed that, due to the northern hemisphere winter, his time at Munster taught him more about game management, and the pair discussed at length whether to play with the wind in the first or second period. 'The French love taking the wind and imposing, while I'd always be of the mentality that it takes maybe 20 minutes to find the rhythm and so play into the wind and have it at your back coming home, because of the way I could manage a game. But he thinks about that long and hard. It was just good to chat because he's someone that I obviously played against and himself and [George] Gregan were special. Yeah, very special.' O'Gara's sense of anticipation about the forthcoming series is heightened by his huge admiration of Andy Farrell and Joe Schmidt, although he doesn't seem to envy the former's challenge in building a team from scratch. 'There was a gulf in class last night,' he says of the Lions' 36-24 win over the Brumbies on Wednesday. 'But that wasn't evident on the scoreboard, and it's something that the Lions have to get better at. You look at the raw ingredients and there's massive talent in one team. But it's tough, I would think, coaching that team.' 'It's still a big show, the Lions,' he says, 'but I think they just have to be careful that it just doesn't become elite. The cost is very expensive. Rugby needs an audience. It shouldn't just be if you have a big salary.' This is a particularly telling point as the availability of tickets for all three Tests, returned from Britain & Ireland and too expensive for Australians to snap up, suggests that the series has been overhyped by the Lions' machine and that supporters of both teams have been turned off by overpriced ticketing, hotels and travel. [ Tadhg Beirne to lead the Lions in final warm-up game before Test series Opens in new window ] O'Gara notes there was more 'Li-ons' chanting at warm-up games on the three tours he undertook as a player to Australia in 2001, New Zealand in 2005 and South Africa in 2009. 'I hear it's very expensive to travel over and even getting tickets over here.' O'Gara's fourth game on the '01 tour was the win over the Brumbies when he declined to assume the placekicking duties from Matt Dawson. The latter publicly expressed his gratitude after landing his redemptory match-winning conversion days after incurring the wrath of Graham Henry and Donal Lenihan for his public critique of the tour in a newspaper diary. O'Gara wanted Dawson to retain the placekicking because, as one himself, he'd hate to have had it taken away from him. 'There's nothing worse in life than handing the kicking tee to someone. You may as well take away your genitals as a man. That's your DNA. That's why there's kickers and there's pressure kickers. I think I can happily say I fall into the pressure kickers category, not at that stage but over my career. And that's a very select group because pressure hits rarely. And at the start of my career, I wasn't able for it. But at the end of my career, I nearly needed it,' he says, adding how he tried to pass on his experience to Richie Mo'unga, not without disagreements between the two, while assistant coach at the Crusaders. Waratahs' Duncan McRae and Ronan O'Gara of the British Lions clash during the tour match in Sydney in June 2001. Photograph: Adam Pretty/Allsport/Getty Images Alas, O'Gara's '01 tour will always be remembered for that vicious flurry of punches by Duncan McRae in the Waratahs match. 'I have no problem talking about any of that. It's weird because the kids saw it at home – now you can get everything on YouTube – and they were like: 'Dad, why didn't you hit him back?'' he recalls, laughing. 'I said, I don't know, I ask myself the same question.' He adds: 'There's loads of moments that you'd like to change, but they shape you.' O'Gara will always have regrets about conceding the penalty which Morné Steyn landed in the second Test to seal the 2009 series. 'But one thing which, with hindsight, I'm proud of is that it never came into my head to kick the ball out for a drawn series. I would just never be like that as a player or as a coach. You go for it. And I've been lucky and I got a massive return with that in coaching and playing. 'To kick it out? No. But to contest it in the air you need to be smarter. It was a stupid decision to play a guy in the air. And you wish you could change that. I kicked it well, because even I could get under it,' he notes, ironically. 'But that's what happens in live sport and the big regret is that it was Paulie's team and Paulie's a great mate, and it meant so much. You hate letting down guys that you like and respect.' O'Gara describes the New Zealand of 2005 as the best All Blacks side ever, 'and the best performance by a 10 was in Wellington', he adds in reference to Dan Carter's virtuoso 33-point haul in the second Test. 'He redefined outhalf play, even to this day; kicking, running, a tactical masterclass.' Dan Carter helping the All Blacks to a 3-0 series victory against the Lions in 2005. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho By the time of his third Lions tour O'Gara had won the Heineken Cup in '06 and '08, and the Grand Slam in '09, but was aware that Stephen Jones was Warren Gatland's Welsh outhalf. 'I get it as a coach now. He gave the keys of the 'camion', as they say in France, because he had more familiarity as a coach with his 10.' As for the Lions of 2025, O'Gara says: 'They haven't hit their straps or close to it yet. All the pieces of the jigsaw aren't fitting together and that takes time. They're very good players but the difficult task is putting them together.' He cites the concession of the Brumbies' last try when the Lions were outnumbered on the blindside of a scrum as an example. And another when Tadhg Furlong sprinted off the line off turnover ball, because that's how he's coached by Jacques Nienaber, but team-mates 'jockeyed', or stayed connected. 'He's expecting his team-mates in blue to do the exact same, and you leave the outside, which is admirable. But when half do one thing and half do the other, that's when problems come. And that's exactly what's happening with players from different countries because they're not robots. To detrain takes 21 days, minimum, to get back to neutral.' [ Lions fail to land statement win against Brumbies but positives outweigh negatives Opens in new window ] It's the same with the ball when trying to 'stay in the flow' or 'stay in motion', he adds. 'It's putting aside everyone's egos to put the team first.' But he's in no doubt that this team has the potential to click. Furthermore, Noah Lolesio is a 'massive' loss to the Wallabies as he was Schmidt's 'go-to man' at outhalf, while O'Gara believes that Finn Russell has progressed his game. 'He's added a game management side to his game; it's not just all play, play, play. He's rewarding his forwards, giving them five-metre lineouts. That's big.' He's also genuinely in awe of Jamison Gibson-Park's all-round game, tempo and decision-making. Still, O'Gara says a Wallabies team strengthened by his own Will Skelton, Rob Valetini and Jake Gordon has to be respected, and also one coached by Schmidt. Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt before the international Test match between Australia and Fiji in Newcastle, Australia on July 6th. Photograph:'I think he's on his own in his capacity to pick holes in the opposition. That's a fantastic skill. I haven't got to that stage of my career yet. If you're playing 35 games a year with 40 players, I need to get 'us' right, but in the Test game, you have to do that.' Cue O'Gara's own Lions team choice for the first Test. 'I'd finish with Porter, Sheehan and Furlong, with Genge, Kelleher and Stuart to start. Itoje will start with McCarthy, and I'd go Beirne, Conan and Van der Flier, then Gibson-Park, Russell, Aki-Ringrose, Lowe, Freeman and Keenan.' But for Blair Kinghorn's injury, O'Gara would have considered a 7-1 bench split, given the Toulouse player can cover outhalf. 'I would still have a massive impact bench. I would go 6-2. As well as Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, I'd have James Ryan, Pollock and Earl, and then Mitchell and Owen Farrell. Tactically I'm very happy with the backs. The only change would be for an injury. But Pollock against a tiring defence and Earl, after Conan has done the donkey work, could do real damage.' Building a lineout, O'Gara believes, requires Beirne while 'McCarthy will hop off Will [Skelton], which will be interesting. Ollie Chessum is in form but you can only pick 23 and Beirne's capacity to pick his moment is a point of difference. But people don't appreciate that this is very, very difficult for Andy Farrell.' Yet, in conclusion, O'Gara still maintains: 'There's no doubt the Lions should win. It's not Australia from 20 years ago. They're eighth in the world. I think it would be very different touring South Africa or New Zealand, and you have to say that. 'But there's huge excitement in anticipation of this series and I think this tour is about the Lions being the best version of themselves. That's what people at home want to see.'
New York Times
08-07-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Europe Needs Rare Earth Metals. Can a Factory in Seaside France Supply Them?
In a squat warehouse not far from the Atlantic shoreline in La Rochelle, France, sits a cluster of giant metal tanks topped by gently whirring motors. They are a gamble on the future of European industry. Since April, the tanks have been purifying two rare earth minerals: a hot pink solution called neodymium and lime-green praseodymium. Both are turned into powder and then sold for use in permanent magnets — crucial materials in producing modern cars, wind turbines and military equipment. For now, the quantities being produced are experimental and tiny. Solvay, the Belgium-based company that owns the plant, will increase production only if it can find customers. 'We are just here signaling that we are available to Europe,' said Philippe Kehren, Solvay's chief executive officer. The company is an example of an unfolding trend. Europe is trying to get back into the rare earths business, but the barriers are towering, and whether it will succeed is uncertain. Rare earth minerals are critical components to advanced technologies in industries including energy and transportation. Most of these 17 important elements — difficult and often dirty to mine and refine at scale — come from China, which has spent decades becoming the dominant producer. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
