Rare earth metals are natural elements found in the Earth’s crust. They are hard to find in large amounts, which makes them valuable.
Such metals are used in many things we use every day.
- They help make screens brighter and speakers louder in smartphones and computers.
- Strong magnets in electric cars and wind turbines use rare earth metals to make these machines work better.
- Some of these metals are used in medical equipment, like X-rays and MRI scanners.
- The military uses them to make advanced weapons and communication systems.
Without rare earth metals, many high-tech products wouldn’t work. As more and more people buy electric cars and use renewable energy, the demand for rare earth metals keeps increasing.
On the other hand, mining rare earth metals poses problems for the environment if it is not done carefully. China dominates the market and controls over 70% of the supply of rare earth metals. It produces about 250 000 tons a year and has reserves of 44 million tons.
Rock containing rare earth elements
Image: Public Domain, Link
Words
- advanced = modern, complex
- crust = the hard, top layer of the Earth
- demand = need
- dominate = here: the leading country; number one
- environment = nature; the world around us
- increase = to go up
- magnet = piece of iron or steel that can stick to other metals
- medical equipment = machines that doctors and hospitals use
- mining = to dig minerals and metals out of the Earth
- natural element = something that you can find in nature and which is not made by a person
- pose = exist
- renewable energy = energy that replaces itself
- reserves = here: metals that are still in the Earth and can be mined in the future
- scanner = a machine that sees through your body and produces a picture of what is inside
- supply = the amount that can be used
- valuable = worth a lot of money
- weapon = object you use to fight against someone in a war, like a gun, knife, or bomb
- wind turbine = a modern windmill that produces electricity