U.S. Rich in Rare Earth Elements

China may have competition from the U.S. as a supplier of Rare Earth Elements (REE). The fact that China is currently the world’s largest supplier of Rare Earth Elements with more than 90% of market share was brought home drastically when it put a temporary ban on the export of these minerals some weeks ago.

Ever since then countries have been made aware of how vulnerable they would be if they continued to bank on China for the continued supply of these elements. Analysts have already worked out that within a couple of decades China’s domestic demand of the Rare Earth Elements would not allow it to export them at all.

Under the circumstances it is good news indeed for the U.S. that a new Geological Survey points out that there are substantial domestic reserves of the rare earth elements in the country spread across several states. In fact 13% of the world’s rare earth elements are available on American soil. The survey has determined that 13 million metric tons of rare earth elements in known deposits exist in the U.S. The U.S. Geological Society has found significant deposits of these elements in 14 states, with the largest at Mountain Pass, California, where they were mined until 2002.