Rare earth elements are a group of chemical elements that are not actually scarce but are difficult to extract because they are geologically dispersed and typically occur mixed with other rocks and minerals.
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descriptive
Definition and extraction characteristics of rare earth elements
China supplies around 90% of the world's rare earths, reflecting a high geographic concentration of mining and processing capacity.
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descriptive
Global supply concentration for rare earth elements
Dysprosium (atomic number 66) is a rare-earth element used in small quantities but is critical for applications such as electric-car motors, wind turbines, certain military systems, and computer-chip manufacturing equipment.
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technical
Functional importance of a specific rare-earth element
Rare-earth mineral deposits exist outside China, but developing equivalent mining and especially processing infrastructure outside China typically requires multiple years of investment and capacity building.
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descriptive
Time and investment required to build non-China rare-earth processing capacity