CHINA NATIONALIZES RARE EARTH MINES

Rare earth minerals can be found in almost every modern electronic device from computers to TVs and hybrid vehicles. Unfortunately, most of the world's supply of these 11 minerals are in China, who recently nationalized the rare earth mines. According to the Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources the nationalization of the facilities was prompted by illegal strip mining and dumping of toxic tailings in nearby waterways. However, China has stated previously they want to reduce rare earth exports by ten percent, inflating the prices.

Japan and the US are working together to find alternatives to these minerals to break China's monopoly.