Rare earths...
www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/global/01minerals.html?_r=1
HONG KONG — China is set to tighten its hammerlock on the market for some of the world’s most obscure but valuable minerals.
Yuriko Nakao/Reuters
Toyota’s Prius hybrids use several pounds of neodymium, a rare earth, in their electric motors.
China currently accounts for 93 percent of production of so-called rare earth elements — and more than 99 percent of the output for two of these elements, dysprosium and terbium, vital for a wide range of green energy technologies and military applications like missiles
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