This is nice - but Rare Earth elements are actually not all that rare.
America is filled with them - currently they are not financially viable to dig up - however, as a byproduct of other mining they are sometimes worth harvesting. This (byproduct) is how we also get about half of the annual gold and silver supply as well.
Most of America's rare earth mining closed down after the Chinese got into the game. The minerals are still in the ground if needed in the future - so no worries.
[–] CrustyBeaver52 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
This is nice - but Rare Earth elements are actually not all that rare.
America is filled with them - currently they are not financially viable to dig up - however, as a byproduct of other mining they are sometimes worth harvesting. This (byproduct) is how we also get about half of the annual gold and silver supply as well.
Most of America's rare earth mining closed down after the Chinese got into the game. The minerals are still in the ground if needed in the future - so no worries.
[–] mineMineMINE [S] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I knew we had some, but didn't connect the byproduct bit. Thanks!