Commodities

Rare Earth Elements: What They Are, Why Rare, Who Categorizes and Controls Them, and Key Companies

They are neither rare nor earths. Yet the 17 metals known as rare earth elements (REEs) sit at the heart of almost every technology that defines the 21st century, from the magnets in electric-vehicle motors and wind turbines to the phosphors in smartphone screens, the catalysts in oil refining and the alloys in fighter-jet engines. For retail investors, understanding these materials is no longer a niche curiosity. It is a window into the geopolitics of the energy transition, the fragility of global supply chains and the handful of companies that dominate an industry worth tens of billions of dollars a year and growing fast.

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  by The CoreQuant
• Sep 17, 2026