The global appetite for rare earth elements is surging.

There's actually about 50% rare earth contained in this concentrate.

But what are they were contrary to the name.

They're not actually that rare.

Rare Earth elements are a collection of 17 metals there, found here on the periodic table, with names that are almost impossible to pronounce on.

While they're abundant, they're not often found in quantities that make extraction economically viable.

They're known for having similar properties and are mostly used in magnets, catalysts or in hybrid car batteries.

Even some military equipment requires rare earth elements.

China is by far the biggest producer.

It has a third of the world's deposits on accounts for more than 90% of global production and supply.

And while there are a handful of other countries with deposits, mining them is only half the battle.

The bigger issue is processing and purifying that's a dirty process can involve handling radioactive waste.

Up until now, most countries have been happy to leave that work to China.

US has one rare Earths mine, but it's still exports its product to China.

Processing more and more technology appears that relies on rare earths, and demand for that technology grows.

So does the dependency on China.

Mm hmm.