Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

DetlefK

(16,423 posts)
1. Rare Earths are not "rare" per se.
Wed Nov 27, 2019, 05:45 AM
Nov 2019

They are "rare" in the sense that they are evenly distributed on Earth. We have copper-mines and iron-ore-mines and cobalt-mines... but there are no mines for rare earths.

That's why China is dominating the rare earth market:

1. China has regions where the concentration of rare earths is marginally higher.

2. Getting rare earths out of rock and soil requires massive and extremely dirty mining-operations and chemical refining. You can't really do that in the West because of enviromental regulations. The chinese government has no qualms about destroying the environment as long as it serves the interests of the Communist Party.

Latest Discussions»Culture Forums»Science»Heavy Lanthanides: An "I...»Reply #1