There's a gaping hole in the world's development of rare earths that threatens to hit militaries as much as it does consumers. | Report by China correspondent ErykBagshaw
If you have a phone, a camera or an electric car, chances are that each of these devices is wholly dependent on key minerals that, at the moment, are processed only in China.
Europium oxide, which is used to produce the colour red in household TVs, comes from a global europium stockpile of just 20 tonnes. Stock of ferro dysprosium, used in some magnets, is less than 500 kilograms. In the last few months of 2019, China had begun winding back its exports, well before its relationship with the US, Australia and Europe was pummelled by the coronavirus and China's crackdown in Hong Kong. From August to September 2019 alone, rare earths exports from China to the US dropped by 18 per cent.
"We have very huge reserves just sitting down there," he says. "But nothing can be done with a lack of investment."Mined in Mount Weld and Browns Range, WA; Nolans, NT.Rare earths are not that rare: A family of 17 obscure minerals found near the bottom of the periodic table, they occur everywhere in the earth's crust and in greater amounts than many other elements. Even the rarest of rare earth materials, thulium, is more plentiful than gold.
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