Rare Earth Elements are a group of 17 metals which have a central role in modern industry, increasingly used in the fields of green technologies, high technological consumer goods, industrial and medical appliances and modern weapons systems. Although deposits of Rare Earths are globally dispersed, over 90% of global demand has been provided by Chinese mines since the late 1990s, leading to a situation where China has a virtual monopoly. This book surveys the Rare Earths mining industry, discusses the extent to which Rare Earths really are scarce elsewhere in the world and assesses the economics of production, considering arguments for the rationing of supply, for higher pricing and for a total export embargo. This actually occurred in 2010, demonstrating the vulnerability of the rest of the world to China’s control of these increasingly vital resources.

Resource competition, mineral scarcity, and economic statecraft -- What are rare earths? -- Salt and oil : strategic parallels -- How China came to dominate the rare earth industry

"Currently, the U.S. along with most of the industrialized world depends almost exclusively on Chinese imports of rare earth elements for this crucial resource in the manufacture of vital components found in both commercial and defense products. Subsequently, China's monopoly of the rare earths industry has ramifications for not only the U.S. commercial manufacturing base but also for its military. Recent history has shown that China is not averse to leveraging its advantage with regard to rare earths production and exports to hold a trading partner hostage against a political backdrop vis-à-vis Japan in 2010. This fact coupled with a growing internal appetite for rare earths to fuel its ever-growing economy has resulted in China cutting its export quotas significantly over the last several years. Due to these factors, the U.S. faces a situation where its own security may be at risk due to a lack of access to a strategic resource, especially one that is controlled by a potential adversary in the future. The U.S. must develop a strategic plan to address the issue either through the use of stockpiling, recycling, indigenous production, combining efforts with its closest allies, or a combination of the four to ensure the U.S. military never faces a shortage of critical weapons or systems required to win its nation's wars."--Abstract.

This paper will discuss how the United States can exercise the economic element of national power to ensure access to rare earth elements (REE) in a China-dominated market system. Since the 1980's, China has gained a virtual monopoly in the mining and production of REE. Today, China produces over 95% of all REE used by the world. The United States, its allies, and trading partners become increasingly dependent on REE each day as the world evolves into a more information based high-technology driven society. REE are vital to the United States' high-technology economy, state of the art defense systems, and renewable and clean energy systems. China's virtual monopoly of REE allows Chinese control of prices, availability and production of high-technology products and materials to achieve Chinese political and economic ends. Since not all REEs can be produced in the United States, it is imperative that the U.S. creates a reliable, predictable, resilient, and cost effective REE global supply chain in addition to reestablishing a U.S. based production capability.

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Peace and Conflict Studies, Security, grade: A-, Utrecht University (Roosevelt Academy), course: Security in the Post-Cold War Era, language: English, abstract: Rare earth metals are chemical elements which are widely unknown to the general public but nevertheless can be found in everyday life. They are critical components of digital cameras, rechargeable batteries and magnets, of surgical lasers, polishing powders and military tanks. Even though their name suggests differently, they are not specifically rare but they often only exist in small deposits scattered over the globe which makes mining often fairly unprofitable. From 1986 onwards China established itself as the biggest producer of rare earth metals with by 2010 supplying 97% of world demand (Humphries, 2011, p. 13). In the past five years prices have been seen to increase tremendously and during the Senkaku boat collision incident, China imposed a trade embargo for rare earth metals against its opponent Japan. The question is to what extent China is going to use its dominant position in the future, specifically in regard to one of the biggest rare earth metal consumer, the United States. In the following the question whether China's monopoly is indeed a serious threat to U.S. security will be answered. Therefore, first a detailed definition of rare earth metals and their applications and a historical overview will be given. Thereupon, it will be shown that China's monopoly is indeed a security issue by a review of the relevant body of security literature, specifically the Copenhagen school approach. Afterwards the possible solutions will be examined.

Owing to their unique magnetic, phosphorescent, and catalytic properties, rare earths are the elements that make possible teverything from the miniaturization of electronics, to the enabling of green energy and medical technologies, to supporting essential telecommunications and defense systems. An iPhone uses eight rare earths for everything from its colored screen, to its speakers, to the miniaturization of the phone?s circuitry. On the periodic table rare earth elements comprise a set of seventeen chemical elements (the fifteen lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium). There would be no Pokémon Go without rare earths. Rare Earth Frontiers is a work of human geography. Klinger looks historically and geographically at the ways rare earth elements in three discrete but representative and contested sites are given meaning.