[chrisinoc]

The Chinese control 97% of the world's rare earth market and have been restricting its export. Fortunately the Mountain Pass mine in CA (off the I-15 near Las Vegas) did not close entirely and restarted operations last year.

[Kolath]

There is some rare earth mining in the US (molycorp is the best known company) but that’s mainly “light rare earths” which have limited industrial uses. These ores have limited amounts of thorium which can be easily contained thereby comply with EPA regulations.