They have the most known reserves. China has subsidized the rare earth market for decades, so capitalism didn’t bother with their exploration elsewhere. There has been no incentive to outside “national security”.
There will definitely be considerable reserves in Canada, US, Australia, Africa, probably Russia. The problem is infrastructure, expertise, and the volume of highly-toxic pollution mining and refining them entail.
What do you figure the odds are that any newly discovered deposits in the United States will be found inside of national parks, forests, or wildlife reserves?
WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 1 week ago
They have the most known reserves. China has subsidized the rare earth market for decades, so capitalism didn’t bother with their exploration elsewhere. There has been no incentive to outside “national security”.
There will definitely be considerable reserves in Canada, US, Australia, Africa, probably Russia. The problem is infrastructure, expertise, and the volume of highly-toxic pollution mining and refining them entail.
BrikoX@lemmy.zip 1 week ago
To some small extent sure, but most of it was long explored during previous natural gas and oil booms.
GraniteM@lemmy.world 1 week ago
What do you figure the odds are that any newly discovered deposits in the United States will be found inside of national parks, forests, or wildlife reserves?