That's somewhat true. Prices rose tremendously across all rare earth metals, and they fallen back notably for some light metals.[1][2] That said, they remain hi

That's somewhat true. Prices rose tremendously across all rare earth metals, and they fallen back notably for some light metals.[1][2] That said, they remain high for heavy rare earth elements (HREEs), where China still dominates production.[3] (Mountain Pass is predominately a light rare earth element-producing mine). Bottom line: The rare earth story only partially supports your point. That said, the lead time for a new mine is 5+ years, and solar manufacturing lead times may be much lower (and thus barriers to entry also lower). [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/business/global/prices-of-rare-earth-metals-declining-sharply.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/business/global/prices-of-... [2] http://www.metal-pages.com/metalprices/cerium/ http://www.metal-pages.com/metalprices/cerium/ [3] http://www.metal-pages.com/metalprices/terbium/ http://www.metal-pages.com/metalprices/terbium/