
Rare earths are vital, and China owns them all - chaostheory
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/rare-earths-are-vital-and-china-owns-them-all-2009-09-24
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hegemonicon
China doesn't own them all - it can just produce them the cheapest (like it
does everything else). From the 2nd page of the article:

'"So there really is no shortage in rare elements, and in fact, there are
enough deposits out there to easily fill demand, but at a price," he said.

At least until now, rare-earth production was not very economical, but if
prices stay high, we will see many new mines outside of China, he said.'

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GiraffeNecktie
Yeah in fact the word "rare" in rare earth is a bit of misnomer. Some rare
earth elements are actually quite plentiful but they aren't usually found in
concentrations great enough to mine on their own and even when they are found
in mineable deposits it's difficult for mining companies to get financing for
mines since banks and investors don't have the same knowledge and yardsticks
that they have for other minerals like gold, nickel etc. Two deposits in North
America that I know about are the Cordero gallium property (owned by Gold
Canyon) and a property in New Brunswick owned by Geodex that might be the
largest indium property in the world. The Geodex property will probably get
mined because it has other valuable minerals but the Gold Canyon property is
still a question mark at this point, even though gallium is in demand.

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jerryji
FYI, this topic has been extensively discussed a month ago
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=789110>

