Description
Rare earth elements are a group of seventeen chemical elements that occur together in the periodic table. During the past twenty years, there has been an explosion in demand for many items that require rare earth metals. Uses range from computers, LEDs, cell phones, automobiles, washing machines and military weapons, making ownership of their mining economically geopolitically crucial
Since the 1980s, China has produced roughly 90% of the world’s supply of REEs. It currently produces 97% of the world REE supply, giving China immense bargaining power. They have recently slowed exportation to Europe and the Americas, and they have stopped exporting to Japan. With these exportation decreases, world prices skyrocketed up to 1500% over the course of just a few months.
This class will delve into the future of these geopolitically significant metals and minerals.
