BEIJING :China, the world's top processor of rare earths, banned the export of technology to extract and separate the critical materials on Thursday, the country's latest step to protect its dominance over several strategic metals.Rare earths are a group of 17 metals used to make magnets that turn power into
Australia has huge reserves of rare earths.
Australia also has huge reserves of cobalt too, but it’s cheaper to fuck up the DRC with violence and pollution, force kids to mine it and then write articles hand wringing about the ~ moral implications of modernity ~ without mentioning there are viable alternatives.
From what I’ve read, the real issue with with the actual refining tech which China effectively has a monopoly on.