The race is on. Honestly, it feels like a sci-fi plot from ten years ago, but here we are in 2026. Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are staring at the same pile of dirt—or, more accurately, the same periodic table—and realizing that whoever controls the supply of bezos musk rare earth minerals basically controls the future of everything.
You’ve probably heard the buzz. Headlines usually scream about "space billionaires" or "battle of the titans." But the reality is a lot more grounded. It’s about magnets. It's about batteries. It's about the fact that your phone, your car, and even the guided missiles keeping the peace (sort of) require things like Neodymium and Dysprosium.
And right now, China has most of them.
The Greenland Gambit
Why is everyone talking about Greenland suddenly?
Because it’s melting. That sounds grim—and it is for the planet—but for billionaires, it’s like a giant "Open for Business" sign. As the ice sheets retreat, they’re revealing some of the world’s largest deposits of rare earth elements.
Bezos isn't out there with a pickaxe. Instead, he’s one of the heavy hitters behind KoBold Metals. This isn't your grandfather's mining company. They use AI—specifically "full-stack" data processing—to predict where minerals are hiding under the crust. Think of it like Google Maps, but for treasure.
Bezos, along with Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, dumped a massive amount of cash into KoBold. Just this month, in January 2026, the company’s valuation hit nearly $3 billion. They aren’t just looking for gold. They are hunting for "battery metals" and rare earths in the Disko-Nuussuaq region of western Greenland.
Musk’s Love-Hate Relationship with Rare Earths
Elon Musk is in a different boat. For years, he’s tried to engineer his way out of needing these minerals.
He hates the supply chain risk.
If you look at the latest Tesla motor designs, they’ve been moving toward permanent magnet motors that use zero rare earths. Why? Because China’s export curbs on things like silver and gallium (which Musk recently warned about on X) make production a nightmare.
But here’s the kicker: you can’t fully escape the periodic table.
While Tesla tries to bypass them in motors, SpaceX needs them for specialized alloys. And Musk knows that to make the energy transition happen at scale, someone has to mine this stuff. He’s famously said he’ll mine whatever is needed if the supply chain doesn't "accelerate." Well, it’s 2026, and things haven't accelerated fast enough.
The $1.5 Trillion Asteroid Myth?
We have to talk about the space stuff. People love the idea of Musk and Bezos dragging a "gold asteroid" back to Earth.
It’s a fun story. But it’s mostly just that—a story.
The physics of bringing heavy minerals back from an asteroid like 16 Psyche is, frankly, a logistical horror show. The cost per gram would make the minerals more expensive than they're worth.
However, bezos musk rare earth minerals in space do matter for "in-situ" resource utilization. If Blue Origin or SpaceX wants to build a base on the Moon or Mars, they can’t carry everything from Earth. They need to find those minerals there. That’s where the real space mining competition is happening. It’s not about bringing rare earths back to your iPhone; it’s about using them to build a civilization that doesn't have to live on Earth.
Why This Matters for Your Wallet
If you’re an investor, you’re probably looking at the stock spikes for companies like Critical Metals Corp. They’ve seen their shares jump over 100% since the start of the year because of the renewed US focus on Greenland.
It’s messy.
There’s a lot of geopolitical friction. Denmark isn't exactly thrilled about the US "interest" in their autonomous territory. But the billionaires are moving faster than the diplomats.
The Real Players in the Bezos Musk Rare Earth Minerals Space
It isn't just a two-man show. To understand the landscape, you have to look at the companies actually doing the dirty work:
- KoBold Metals: The AI darling. Backed by Bezos, Gates, and Sam Altman. They are the ones actually scouting Greenland and the Zambian Copperbelt.
- MP Materials: This is the big American hope. They operate the Mountain Pass mine in California. They’re trying to restore the full "mine-to-magnet" supply chain in the US.
- Lynas Rare Earths: Based in Australia, they are currently the only major scale producer of separated rare earths outside of China.
The "Dirty" Truth
Rare earth mining is "rarely" clean.
Processing these minerals involves a lot of acid and produces a fair amount of radioactive byproduct (usually Thorium). This is the part Bezos and Musk don't talk about in their shiny keynotes.
In Greenland, the Kvanefjeld project has been stalled for years because of a uranium ban. You can’t get the rare earths out without touching the uranium. It's a package deal.
So, while the AI helps find the deposits, the actual extraction remains a massive environmental and political hurdle.
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What's Next?
If you're trying to keep track of this, look at the "Freedom City" proposals and the network state ideas floating around the tech circles. Some of these billionaires aren't just looking for minerals; they're looking for places to build high-tech hubs with fewer regulations. Greenland is the primary target for this "experimental governance" because it’s vast and sparsely populated.
What you should do now:
- Monitor the Greenland "Disko-Nuussuaq" project updates. If KoBold hits a massive deposit of nickel or cobalt there, the market shift will be immediate.
- Watch Tesla's 2026 battery Day. Musk is expected to reveal more about his "lithium refinery" in Texas and whether he's successfully cut rare earths from his entire fleet.
- Diversify your "Green Energy" portfolio. Don't just buy the car makers. Look at the "upstream" players—the companies that own the rights to the dirt.
The battle for bezos musk rare earth minerals is basically a fight for the 21st century's oil. It’s not just about who has the best rocket anymore. It’s about who owns the ingredients.