A new source of national wealth?

Valuable: All processors for microelectronic devices need rare earths, making these metals a very sought-after commodity nowadays. — 123rf.com

WHEN China first discovered her rich rare earths deposits, the country’s then leader Deng Xiaoping proudly declared that “The Middle East has its oil, China has rare earths”.

This was in 1992, and he proclaimed then that rare earths would one day replace oil as the driver of global energy. That pronouncement, which was scoffed at by the West, is now becoming more and more true by the day.