in general

Fears China will "turn off the taps" on Britain's green revolution has forced ministers to enter secret talks with seven commonwealth countries to mine their rare earths. Officials from the Department of International Trade and the Foreign Office have had meetings with representatives from Australia, Canada, Malawi and Tanzania in a bid to persuade them to supply rare earths, as well as critical metals such as lithium to the UK. Rare earths are found in abundance across the world, but are difficult to process and China controls around 90 per cent of the market. - Sunday Telegraph