It's a "mining economy" so, yes, they're rare relative to other resources. US Government Accounting Office recently said it was still an issue: http://breaking

It's a "mining economy" so, yes, they're rare relative to other resources. US Government Accounting Office recently said it was still an issue: http://breakingdefense.com/2016/03/pentagon-fails-to-act-on-crucial-rare-earth-minerals/ http://breakingdefense.com/2016/03/pentagon-fails-to-act-on-... It's an issue, but complex, and hard to predict what will happen. Also, given it is a national security issue, it's possible, if not likely that you'll never get a full picture of the issue.