NASA Via Geology.com:
... Here on Earth, China recently blocked the export of rare earth elements to Japan for use in an array of products; from wind turbines and glass for solar panels to use in hybrid cars, and even guided missiles and other defense-oriented creations.
China is increasingly putting the pinch on quotas of such elements out of their country.
....Given all the mineral mischief here on Earth, the moon could become a wellspring of essential resources – but at what quality, quantity and outlay to extract?
Providing a lunar look-see is Carle Pieters, an NLSI team member and leading planetary scientist in the Department of Geological Sciences at Brown University in Providence, R.I.
“Yes, we know there are local concentrations of REE on the moon,” Pieters said, referring to rare earth elements by their acronym REE. “We also know from the returned samples that we have not sampled these REE concentrations directly, but can readily detect them along a mixing line with many of the samples we do have.”
