It turns out that rare earth minerals aren't really that rare. We buy ours from China because they are deadly to mine and process, not because we don't have any. In fact, we have more than enough to supply our own needs. We just don't know how to do that without causing environmental catastrophes. So we let China do it for us. Now Malaysia is getting into the rare earth mining act with terrible consequences. See Engineers Fear Rare Earth Refinery in Malaysia Is Dangerous - http://nyti.ms/liW3e1 http://amplify.com/u/a16c2y