Rare earths have been getting a lot of attention in the media lately. Just what exactly are they and why are they so important? We’ll go over what makes these minerals “rare,” how we rely on them in our daily lives, and how some types of rare earth mining can have serious environmental, human rights, and geopolitical consequences if not done responsibly.
What are rare earths, anyway?
Rare earth elements are a group of 17 metals that have similar chemical properties and appearance. They include 15 lanthanide metals (elements on the periodic table starting from Lanthanum) as well as scandium and yttrium. They are called “rare” because they are usually not found in concentrated deposits. This makes it difficult to mine in large quantities because they are spread throughout the earth’s crust, even if they are abundantly found. For example, there is more cerium, a rare earth element, than copper in the earth’s crust. Rare earth elements are important because they have unique properties that make them valuable in modern technology like magnets and motors.
By Донор – This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this file:, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56605476
What’s the difference between rare earths and critical minerals?
“Rare earths” and “critical minerals” often appear together, sometimes even in the same sentence, but they’re two different things. “Critical minerals” is a term that governments use to indicate which minerals are important for a country’s economy, infrastructure, industry, and defense. Rare earths are often included as a subset group in critical minerals groups. Critical minerals also include numerous other non-rare earth elements like cobalt, copper, and lithium.
What are rare earths used for?
Rare earths are especially important in the manufacture of magnets, especially neodymium iron boride (NdFeB) magnets. These magnets are lightweight and powerful, which make them very valuable in phones, laptops, speakers, and magnetic resonance imaging devices (MRIs).
Sometimes, neodymium is mixed with other rare earths like dysprosium. This makes the permanent magnet more durable at high temperatures, where electromagnetic forces can start failing. By 2030, electric vehicle motors and wind turbines are forecast to create two thirds of global demand for NdFeB magnets.
Rare earths are also used in catalysts, which make certain chemical reactions possible. For example, cerium oxide is used in catalytic converters to capture harmful emissions like carbon monoxides from vehicles burning fossil fuels. Rare earths also have applications in defense industry technologies.
Where do rare earths come from?
Rare earths are mined across the world, but China mines and refines the overwhelming majority. For some rare earths like dysprosium, more than half of the global supply comes from mines in Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia in the midst of a violent civil conflict that borders China. The minerals are then transported to China for refining.
Rare earth minerals are found in large quantities in Australia, Brazil, Denmark (Greenland), India, Russia, Sweden, India, the United States, and Vietnam. However, the total amount of rare earths mined by all these countries is still less than China’s production in 2023 and 2024, according to the US Geological Service. Most mined rare earth minerals are also processed in China because of the lack of processing capacity in other countries. China also makes over 90% of rare earth magnets globally.
What role do rare earths play in geopolitics?
China’s domination of rare earth supply chains is seen by many governments as a national security and economic risk. For example, rare earths have become a bargaining chip in trade negotiations between China and the US. As reported by the New York Times and others, China has at times placed limits on rare earth sales, most recently in April 2025 in response to the US placing tariffs on Chinese imports. As a result, other countries have been trying to develop new supply chains and alternative technologies to reduce reliance on China.
Rare earth mining also plays a role in the ongoing civil conflict in Myanmar, which has potential implications for long-term stability in Southeast Asia. Since the Myanmar military launched a violent coup in 2021, the country has experienced a growing humanitarian crisis. The Myanmar military has repeatedly launched air strikes against civilians while arresting and disappearing thousands of pro-democracy activists. The military has only gained full control of about 21% of the country’s territory as of December 2024, with many areas under the control of ethnic revolutionary organizations (EROs). Most of the country’s rare earth mining takes place in Kachin State in areas currently controlled by pro-democracy forces, but some mining also takes place in areas controlled by military-aligned groups. For now, China is the recipient of almost all rare earths coming out of Myanmar.
Greenland has also been in the news recently as the Trump administration has demanded control over the semi-autonomous region which belongs to Denmark. Greenland has some of the world’s largest reserves of rare earths, with potentially millions of tons of heavy rare earths, the same found in Myanmar. The Trump administration has said that they want access to these rare earth minerals, which have mostly been untouched because of popular opposition by Greenlanders, whose government instituted a moratorium on mining uranium-rich deposits.
Why should you care?
Your phones, laptops, and electric vehicles all contain rare earths, and some of these materials may have been mined in a way that contributes to armed conflict, toxic pollution, and corruption. The actual mining process differs among each type of rare earth mineral. Most of the processes are relatively low-impact, but the mining for some rare earths – “heavy” rare earths – releases toxic heavy metals and radioactive particles as byproducts which leach into farmland and waterways, making it difficult or impossible for surrounding communities to grow food or use the water. If safeguards are not put in place, this can cause significant environmental and health harms.
For example, mining of the heavy rare earths dysprosium and terbium in Kachin State, Myanmar is causing devastating environmental impacts on local populations whose livelihoods are already strained by the conflict. The toxic chemicals used to mine for rare earths and the byproducts released alongside those minerals endanger workers and poison farmland and water. Meanwhile, pollution from rare earth mining in Shan State seems to have crossed borders and reached the Mekong and Kok River watersheds in Thailand. Up to two-thirds of all dysprosium comes from Myanmar, and there is little to no transparency or tracing of rare earth mining. This means multinational companies that use dysprosium in their wind turbines and electric vehicles should assume materials in their magnets are coming from Myanmar, and are at risk of funding armed conflict and mining that is harming local communities and workers.
Rare earth minerals carry a lot of promise: they have been used in technologies that reduce fossil fuel usage across the world, but we cannot ignore the environmental and human costs of mining and refining these metals. Any energy transition that is built on the exploitation of people, their communities and their livelihoods is one that continues to perpetuate and uphold the injustice of today’s extraction economy.
The next in this series of articles will dive deeper into rare earth mining in Myanmar. To learn more about rare earth mining, check out our animation series available in English, Burmese, and Thai.
