Three explanations, geared to your interest / attention span.
Straight, no chaser (two sentence explanation)
Rare earth minerals contain 17 elements that play a crucial role in developing today’s advanced technologies. China has a stranglehold on this market: Chinas got ’em, we want ’em.
Elevator Pitch (two paragraph explanation)
Rare earth elements are essential for high-tech products like smartphones, batteries and advanced defense systems. Rare earth minerals are not rare but extracting the elements is a costly process and finding a lode significant enough to be profitable has been a challenge.
This has led to an arms-race type competition to find and extract rare earth minerals around the world. China, first to market, is currently the dominant player in real earth elements.
Every picture tells a story, don't it (six minute video explanation)
