Global rare earth resources and scenarios of future rare earth industry

It is known to all that China is abundant in rare earth resources. But rare earth deposits are really not that rare in the earth crust. In the five continents, i.e. Asia, Europe, Australia, North and South America, and Africa, there are about thirty four countries found to have rare earth deposits; Brazil might surpass China and rank the first in rare earth deposits. At present, investment in rare earth production was surged, there have been about 200 projects, and the total production for 25 of them would be more than 170 thousand tons after 2015, a multi-supply system on rare earths is being established worldwide. Cautions on the investment of rare earth production are involved.