Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of 17 metallic elements—the 15 lanthanides on the periodic table, plus scandium and yttrium. Despite their name, they are relatively abundant in the Earth's crust. However, they are rarely found in high-concentration deposits, making them technically and economically challenging to mine and refine.

Why Are They Important?

REEs possess unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties. Because of this, they are functionally irreplaceable in hundreds of modern applications:

• Permanent Magnets: Used in electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, and aerospace platforms. Neodymium and dysprosium are highly sought-after for their ability to create incredibly strong, heat-resistant magnets.

• Consumer Electronics: Essential for the function of smartphones, laptops, fiber optics, and medical imaging devices.

• Defense Systems: Critical for missile guidance systems, radar, and sonar. 

The Separation Bottleneck

The primary challenge with rare earths is not geological scarcity, but rather chemical similarity. Because they share near-identical ionic radii, extracting and separating these elements from raw ore requires highly complex, capital-intensive, and strictly regulated chemical processing. 

Global Supply

While deposits exist worldwide, the processing infrastructure required to turn these ores into finished high-purity components is heavily concentrated. China holds the largest known reserves, resulting in a heavy reliance on Chinese supply chains for global tech and defense manufacturing. To secure independent supply chains, nations like the U.S. and Canada are actively funding domestic processing and alternative mining projects.

Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of 17 metallic elements—the 15 lanthanides on the periodic table plus scandium and yttrium. Despite their name, they are not geologically scarce, but are highly dispersed. They are essential in modern tech and green energy, acting as the "vitamins" that make electronics smaller, faster, and stronger.

What Are They?

The group is generally divided into two categories:

• Light REEs: Used heavily as catalysts, in glass production, and lighting (e.g., lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, samarium).

• Heavy REEs: More scarce and highly valued for high-temperature applications, aerospace, and defense (e.g., dysprosium, terbium, yttrium). 

Key Applications

REEs are indispensable in the transition to clean energy and advanced technology:

• Permanent Magnets: Used to generate mechanical power in electric vehicle (EV) motors and wind turbines. The REE neodymium is critical here.

• Electronics: Used for smartphones, computer hard drives, medical devices, and flat-screen TVs.

• Optics and Lasers: Used in fiber optics, laser rangefinders, and industrial lasers.

• Defense: Utilized in military radar, sonar, night vision goggles, and fighter jet engines. 

Why Are They Called "Rare"?

The term is misleading. Many REEs are actually quite common in the Earth's crust—cerium is as abundant as copper. They are called "rare" because they are rarely found in concentrated, economically viable deposits. Because their atoms are large and "incompatible" with common rock-forming minerals, they are spread thinly across the globe, requiring massive amounts of earth to be mined and refined to extract them.

Global Production and Supply Chain

Extracting and refining these elements is highly difficult, energy-intensive, and chemically polluting.

• Supply Dominance: China historically controls the vast majority (around 60-70%) of mined REEs and roughly 90% of global refined production.

• Geopolitics: Because they are foundational to both civilian technologies and defense systems, the REE supply chain is the focus of intense geopolitical strategy. Countries like the United States, Australia, Canada, and Brazil are actively investing to expand their own mining and refining capabilities

Learn more about global production trends and critical mineral policies through Natural Resources Canada