Posted on 07/08/2021 9:15:56 PM PDT by Right Wing Vegan
“rare earths are not really rare”
Indeed. The issue is that they are rarely used, but crucial in small quantities. It’s the economics of mining them that is the problem.
If USA mandated local supplies, that problem would be solved tomorrow.
The thorium is the problem. Just radioactive enough for greenie law to make discarding it an expensive legal liability. Yet, absent development of thorium nuclear reactors, it’s worthless. Overcome the legal, political and (relatively easy) engineering issues to build thorium reactors would greatly improve the economics of rare earth production.
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