Rare Earths

In case you did not know, the rare earths metals (basically neodymium, praseodymium, cerium, and a few other esoteric elements) are both essential for modern industry and almost entirely controlled by the PRC.  10/20/25 BBC:

Australia may have a lot of rare earths and other critical minerals.

But like the US, it is dependent on China when it comes to processing the materials into something companies can use.

Both the US and Australia are interested in expanding processing capacity outside of China, but doing so is expected to require significant investment, including on the part of government.

The US has been investing money in firms such as rare earths miner MP Materials and Canada’s Trilogy Metals and Lithium Americas, which have projects in the US, to expand the US-based supply chain.

This is good.