Written by by Leslie Eastman at legalinsurrection.com
The last time we visited the issue of rare earth minerals at Legal Insurrection, the Chinese had shut down the export of 2 important rare earth metals used in semiconductor manufacture: gallium and germanium.
In December, China imposed a trade ban on rare earth extraction equipment.
The second shot was new trade ban imposed by China on specialized rare earth production equipment, which means rivals will have to develop their own processes for extracting commercial quantities of metals needed in a variety of technologies.
Rare earths have been a Chinese specialty for decades thanks to large deposits of ore and through the application of smart mining and treatment methods which evolved just in time to catch surging demand.
While not household names it would not be possible to run the modern world without neodymium, praseodymium, terbium, or dysprosium, four of the 17 elements that make up the rare earth family.
Now I have some good news to share. Our country could soon surpass China as the world leader in rare earth minerals after more than 2.34 billion metric tons were discovered in Wyoming.