A Looming Rare Earth Shortage Threatens Critical Tech

ggm

US fed investment in Australian rare earth mines was announced this year. I'm unsure if it's more than loan guarantees and a purchase agreement. There was discussion of a floor price but it focussed on the distorting qualities.

deepsun

I remember on my youth same thing said about oil.

thot_experiment

I'm pretty sure this is just an economic problem right? It has long been convenient to exploit countries that have low wages and make little effort to price in the negative externalities of extracting these resources. It's not like the imperial core doesn't have the minerals, we're just currently not getting them out of the ground.

RobotToaster

Oh dear, did someone start a pointless trade war with the main source of essential minerals you need?