Living in the Environment 18th Edition by Tyler Miller,Scott Spoolman

Exercise 16

Rare-earth metals are widely used in a variety of important products ( Core Case Study ). In 2010, China produced about 97% of the world's rare earths and the United States produced none. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, China has 50% of the world's reserves of rare-earth metals and the United States has 13%.
In 2010, China had 55 million metric tons of rareearth metals in its reserves and produced 130,000 metric tons of these metals. At this rate of production how long will China's rare-earth reserves last