rare earth minerals
Scarce elemental resources
Rare earth minerals are a group of seventeen metallic elements used in high-tech manufacturing—smartphones, electric vehicles, wind turbines, and military equipment.
Despite the name, most aren't actually rare in the earth's crust, but they're difficult to extract and process economically.
China dominates global production, making rare earths a frequent subject in trade and national security discussions: The factory couldn't source rare earth minerals for its batteries.
- phosphorLight-emitting coating substance
- lutetiumLanthanide element, number seventy-one
- lanthanidesF-block metallic element series
- scandiumElement twenty-one
- magnetismForce between poles
terbium · cerium · catalytic converter · battery technology · ferroalloy · permanent magnets · electric vehicles · green energy · tech industry · dysprosium · geological surveys · resource extraction · geochemistry · China · supply chain · trade war · national security · smartphones
- geopoliticsbalance of power, bipolarity, bloc, blocs, brinkmanship
- MongoliaGobi Desert, Inner Mongolia, steppe, Mongols, nomads
- GreenlandNuuk, tundra, fjords, glaciers, Inuit
- Pacific tradetrade routes, Pacific Rim, ASEAN, cargo ships, opium trade
- Sino-Japanese Relationsterritorial disputes, diplomatic ties, bilateral talks, historical grievances, diplomatic crisis
- strategic industriessemiconductors, telecommunications, aerospace, cybersecurity, defense
rare earth mineralsprecious metals
Rare, valuable metallic elements
base metals · gold · silver · platinum · copper
rarer, rarest, rarely, rareness, rarity, rarefied, rarefy, rarefaction, earth