Why China wants North Korea’s rare earth minerals
As investors and economists worry about global spillover effects on commodities by a slowing Chinese economy, one key resource is bubbling under the radar—stockpiles of rare earth metals in neighboring North Korea.
The category of minerals called rare earth is a misnomer. The chemical elements are available throughout the world, and have tongue-twisting names such as cerium and lanthanum. But rare earth minerals are key to everyday tech gadgets and growing innovations, such as smartphones, high definition TVs, hybrid cars, missiles—even the extraction of natural gas known as fracking.
Read more at: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101418459
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