[chrisjc]

From what I understand, it's not the mines that are the problem. In fact, China imports most of its rare earth materials. What they control is the refinement of these materials turning them from a raw form to something useable. I believe the US is finally starting to do something about this imbalance, but I'm unsure if its scale is great enough to have an effect. A refinement plant just came online in Colorado (or is it Texas?) in the last few months. I believe there might be more in the pipeline including Mountain Pass (in addition to the mine itself) in California. From what I understand, traditionally refinement is an extremely dirty process and as a result extremely costly to run especially with all the environmental restrictions and potential fines.

edit: latrare brings up another very important point. The patents surrounding the processes to refine RE materials. Take a look at who owns most of them...

[blackrock]

I recall that China owns most of the latest patents on rare earth refinements. This should be obvious considering they are the most active in its refinement process.

Now, the irony is that if American companies want to start rare earth refining, then they must pay China for the use of those refinement patents.

Oh the irony.

Unless some American senator want to invalidate all of China’s patents on grounds of National Security. Oh the hypocrisy.