seventeen elements the world fights over despite them not being rare or earths.
means a group of seventeen metallic elements essential to magnets, batteries, and electronics that are chemically similar and annoyingly hard to separate from each other.
from named in the 18th and 19th centuries when chemists found strange oxide minerals in scandinavian quarries that seemed uncommon at the time; the elements turned out to be common, just never found in concentrated, easily mined deposits.
neodymium magnets — power every tesla motor and wind turbine generator built
mountain pass mine — california site reopened 2018 after decades of chinese dominance
europium phosphors — made old crt and plasma tv screens glow red
lynas corporation — australian miner processing ore in malaysia since 2013