Editor's Note: Today, China controls between 70 to 90% of all rare earth metals on the planet, hinging the fate of our entire technological infrastructure on an increasingly-hostile foreign superpower that has already used its monopoly to punish its enemies. In small gestures, America and its allies have made efforts to re-secure resource independence, which the CCP attempts to thwart at every turn. The reason is obvious. In a technologically-advanced society, whoever controls the world’s supply of rare earth metals controls the world.

Ryan McEntush guests today with a primer on the topic. What exactly are rare earth metals, and why are they so important? What does it take to mine and process rare earth metals? How did we wind up in a world controlled almost entirely by China, and how do we free ourselves?

-Solana