China extracted around 150,000 tons of rare earths in 2016, according to experts, but has in the past restricted the supply amid political tensions. Japanese firms are working on recycling products containing rare earths to re-use the elements, developing technology without rare earths and investing in foreign mining projects in exchange for the minerals. There is currently no profitable way of extracting rare earths from that sort of depth -- more than five kilometres (three miles) below the surface. “Producing just 1,000 tons of rare earth oxide from this source would require mining over one million tons of mud,” said Castilloux. And the United States Geological Survey estimated last year there were 120 million tons of rare earth deposits worldwide, with 44 million in China, 22 million in Brazil and 18 million in Russia.

Source: Hindustan Times April 15, 2018 04:07 UTC