http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/paulmason/2009/11/rare_earth_the_new_great_game.html
"The rare earth story goes to the heart of China's relationship with the West - not just that, but to the heart of the West's inability to understand China. It is a complicated story, involving a whole chunk of the Periodic Table, high secrecy, patent battles and conspiracy theory.
But it boils down to this - 97% of the specialist metals that are crucial to green technology are currently mined in China. China is already limiting exports and has plans to limit them some more. As a result much of the hi-tech metals industry is also moving to China."
