Yale: A Scarcity of Rare Metals Is Hindering Green Technologies

[FBaggins]

4. Not so much.

Most of them aren't particularly rare (about as abundant as copper for at least one of them).

Scarcity can be a market condition - not just a question of how much is in the ground.

China may have less than 1/4th of the world's rare earths, but they represent (depending on who you listen to) 90-97% of the world production. That's not because the minerals don't exist elsewhere (the US used to be the leading producer)... but because the Chinese undercut world prices so substantially that they drove the competition out of the market. Now that they're reportedly restricting access... prices will likely rise enough to bring other players back into the marketplace. But it will take some time.