EDITOR'S CORNER: Are China Controlling the Rare Earth Market?
Rare earths are extremely important to our modern world. You can find them in batteries, navigation systems, and other critical components used in defense equipment — such as jets, bombs, and missiles, for example. China controls a large portion of this market, both in mining rare earths and especially in refining them. What is happening now, and why is China restricting access to these materials? In this blog post, let's take a look at what rare earths are, why China holds a monopoly over them, and why it is now restricting access to these resources. WHAT ARE RARE EARTHS? Rare earths, also known as rare earth elements, are a group of 17 metallic elements essential to many modern technologies. Despite their name, most of these elements are quite common — they are relatively abundant in the Earth’s crust but are seldom found in concentrated deposits that are easy to mine. These elements include well-known names such as neodymium, dysprosium, and cerium, which are vital for producing...