Which countries have the critical minerals needed for the energy transition?
ourworldindata.org
ourworldindata.org
A point worth remembering is that reserves and production aren't tightly coupled, Nor are mines: Australia for reasons I shall never understand, exports mostly raw, only partially processed inputs to China (mostly) and then buys back the product. Why we don't value add more, is totally beyond me. Especially when you bring strategic interest to the table.
A second point worth remembering is that strategic interest is an admission you aren't going to chase lowest price on pure economic grounds: you're going to wear some cost to retain CONTROL. Again, Australia hasn't invoked this anything like enough in the last 2-3 decades. But we could.
The last point, is that "rare earths" aren't particularly rare. A combination of lazyness and economics make them concentrate in a few hands. There are enough out there.
We're not facing Erlich-Simons. We're facing willingness to invest in mines, invest in production, invest in stockpiling, and invest in non-least-cost production.
"Rare earth" metals are not rare in terms of crustal abundance, but earths of them (minable ore bodies with few impurities) are rare. These metals love hanging out with others - that's part of the reason why mining them is a dirty, toxic business.
We got lazy. It's cheaper to source them from China. When people stand up proposals to open or re-open the mines in Australia, Canada, Africa, the price becomes the deciding factor, not their strategic worth.
Are they as common as Iron Ore? No. Are they as rare as hen's teeth? No. It's like "the World Series" -The Name doesn't mean what people think it means: it's just the name