China's costs are less, because when they decided to corner the market for rare earth minerals decades ago they did not care about the consequences of the pollution. Mitigating the pollution is one of the big reasons why it costs so much to mine and refine rare earths.
The rare earth minerals themselves are fairly common, and could be produced in many locations if countries wanted to do so. China was able to corner the market rather easily because nobody else wanted to deal with all of the problems.
Things are obviously different now, and the US must mine and refine its own ASAP - for national security if no other reason...
China's costs are less, because when they decided to corner the market for rare earth minerals decades ago they did not care about the consequences of the pollution. Mitigating the pollution is one of the big reasons why it costs so much to mine and refine rare earths.
The rare earth minerals themselves are fairly common, and could be produced in many locations if countries wanted to do so. China was able to corner the market rather easily because nobody else wanted to deal with all of the problems.
Things are obviously different now, and the US must mine and refine its own ASAP - for national security if no other reason...