Boeing's Aerial Sensor Tech to Aid Search for Dwindling Rare Earth Elements
Neodymium Images of Elements via Wikimedia Rare earth elements have received a good deal of attention lately, not least because they are indeed very rare, and the country holding most known reserves - China - is gobbling them up faster than it can mine them, leaving few leftovers for export. But now Boeing has announced a deal to deploy its remote sensing technology to map out possible U.S. deposits of rare earth elements in an effort to rebuild a domestic supply chain for U.S. industry. Rare earth minerals are crucial for everything from high-tech computing hardware to cell phones to military tech. Some estimates suggest China holds as much as 97 percent of the planet's rare earth oxides, but even with those vast holdings the nation recently cut back on exports to feed its own insatiable demand for the stuff. Meanwhile, new rare earth mines are planned in the U.S., Canada, Australia,...