This is worth reading, especially all those wannabes out there!...

This is worth reading, especially all those wannabes out there!
How to Actually Overcome China’s Rare Earths Monopoly


‘……But it is the lanthanides that really concern us politically and economically these days. The crucial thing to understand about them is that, along with not being rare (or earths), finding them really is not a problem in the slightest. It is processing them that is difficult…’ ….

…. the separation cost is $15 to $20 per kg material, in a plant that usually costs around $1 billion to build. This is where we get to our economic problem: If the global market is under $10 billion a year, then how many billion-dollar plants will the global market support? Not many, is the answer….’

….. The rare earths problem is the basic technology of separation plants; that’s where the public money should go.’

https://thediplomat.com/2023/12/how-to-actually-overcome-chinas-rare-earths-monopoly/