Acid pits seen at an abandoned rare earths mine in Guyun village in this file pic. — ©2025 The New York Times Company
AS recently as 2010, few industries were as lawless, and yet as central to the global economy, as China’s production of rare earth metals.
Consignments of rare earths frequently changed hands for sacks of Chinese currency: the rule of thumb was that a cubic foot of tightly packed 100-renminbi bills was worth US$350,000.
