They aren't that rare. Just hard to find in the right proportions of the different rare earth elements. And in concentrations high enough to make extraction a paying proposition.
And requiring some technical expertise to fabricate into end products. It's not as if there are neodymium magnets just laying around.
From the BBC, January 13:
Europe's largest deposit of rare earths - which are used from mobile phones to missiles - has been found in Sweden.
No rare earths are mined in Europe at the moment and a Swedish minister hailed the find as a way of reducing the EU's dependence on China.
The discovery is also being seen as "decisive" for the green transition, given the expected rise in demand for electric vehicles and wind turbines.
Some 98% of rare earths used in the EU in 2021 were imported from China.
Over one million tonnes are reported to have now been found in Sweden's far north....
....MUCH MORE
