Rare and heavy

Or maybe not so rare any more.  It's hard to maintain a monopoly; someone always responds to crazy high prices by redoubling efforts to find a new supply, or a substitute.  China has been doing a fairly good job of cornering the market in rare earths since the 1990s, leading buyers in the rest of the world to charge that they cracked down on exports in order to induce other countries to locate their factories in China, where the Chinese would steal their technology.  Not all rare earths are really that rare, but the heaviest (and perhaps most useful) ones have proved elusive until recently.  However, Japan has just announced a huge find in deep seabeds off its shore.

Rare earth metals are the salt of life for the hi-tech revolution, used in iPads, plasma TVs, lasers, and catalytic converters for car engines.  Dysprosium is crucial because it is the strongest magnet in the world but also remains stable at very high temperatures.  Neodymium is used in hybrid cars, and terbium cuts power use for low-energy lightbulbs by 40pc. 

The metals are also used in precision-guided weapons, missiles such as the Hellfire, military avionics, satellites, and night-vision equipment.  America's M1A2 Abrams tank and the Aegis Spy-1 radar both rely on samarium. 

Washington was caught badly off guard when China started restricting supplies.  The US defence and energy departments have now made it an urgent priority to find other sources, but warn that it may take up to a decade to rebuild the supply-chain.  The US Magnetic Materials Association said America had drifted into a "silent crisis."

In other news, Japan is becoming increasingly nervous about Chinese saber-rattling.  Since World War II, Japan ostensibly has forsworn military solutions to international problems, while China seems to have no problem with them.