Rare Earth Elements (REE)
Why it Matters?
China tightened rules on rare earth mining and trade, reinforcing its dominance across reserves, production, and refining.
What You Should Know?
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), they comprise 17 metals, grouped into:
light rare earths (LREEs) — including lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium and europium — and
heavy rare earths (HREEs) such as gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium.
Promethium is not included in the list as it is radioactive and does not occur in mineable quantities.
These metals have unusual fluorescent, conductive, and magnetic properties.
They are not “rare” but also not found in very high concentrations.
They are usually found mixed together with one another or with radioactive elements, such as uranium and thorium.
They have critical uses in clean energy technologies, in defense applications, and in high-tech devices like smartphones and hard drives.