The Financial Post reports in its Thursday, Nov. 27, edition that the small Australian town of Parkes is gaining significance in the effort to challenge China's control of rare earths. A Financial Times dispatch to the Post reports that Ivanhoe Mines founder Robert Friedland is co-chair and the biggest shareholder in Sunrise Energy Metals, which is planning a scandium mine in Parkes, 350 kilometres west of Sydney, that would start production in 2028. Sunrise raised $30-million (U.S.) last week to start preconstruction activities at the mine, one of the first projects to get off the ground in Australia after Washington and Canberra signed a deal in October to increase supplies of rare earths. Downstream processing of the mine's output is expected to take place in the United States, with the company in discussions with potential partners. The U.S. and other Western governments are rushing to try to find alternative sources of rare earths after China used its grip on the sector as a choke point in trade talks by threatening export restrictions, though it has since suspended the threat following a truce with Washington. Australia is seen as a way for the west to diversify supplies of critical minerals.