To be fair america could, rare earths aren’t actually that rare. The main thing is that mining them is the environmental equivelent of pouring fuel everywhere and setting the place on fire. That stops most countries which is why China has the market so cornered but with how the US feels about the concept of breathable air these days they could totally secure a domestic supply.
You could mine them in environmentally sound ways it’s just that doing so would be expensive and China doesn’t care so they just go with open cast mines, and render the environment uninhabitable.
But you could dig a mining shaft and do it that way but as I said that’s expensive and dangerous, which needs even more money to mitigate the danger.
To be fair america could, rare earths aren’t actually that rare. The main thing is that mining them is the environmental equivelent of pouring fuel everywhere and setting the place on fire. That stops most countries which is why China has the market so cornered but with how the US feels about the concept of breathable air these days they could totally secure a domestic supply.
You could mine them in environmentally sound ways it’s just that doing so would be expensive and China doesn’t care so they just go with open cast mines, and render the environment uninhabitable.
But you could dig a mining shaft and do it that way but as I said that’s expensive and dangerous, which needs even more money to mitigate the danger.