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Recently, there has been a concern over the short supply of a group of elements called 'rare earth metals.' Why? 1. China, which is the largest producer of these elements, has imposed some restrictions on their export. 2. Other than China, Australia, Canada and Chile, these elements are not found in any country. 3. Rare earth metals are essential for the manufacture of various kinds of electronic items and there is a growing demand for these elements. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Recently, there has been a concern over the short supply of a group of elements called 'rare earth metals.' Why? 1. China, which is the largest producer of these elements, has imposed some restrictions on their export. 2. Other than China, Australia, Canada and Chile, these elements are not found in any country. 3. Rare earth metals are essential for the manufacture of various kinds of electronic items and there is a growing demand for these elements. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? Correct Answer 1 and 3 only

The correct answer is 1 and 3 only.

Key Points

  • Rare Earth Metals: 
    • Rare Earth Elements or Rare Earth Metals are a set of 17 chemical elements in the periodic table — the 15 lanthanides, plus scandium and yttrium, which tend to occur in the same ore deposits as the lanthanides, and have similar chemical properties.
    • The 17 Rare Earths are cerium (Ce), dysprosium (Dy), erbium (Er), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), holmium (Ho), lanthanum (La), lutetium (Lu), neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), scandium (Sc), terbium (Tb), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and yttrium (Y).
    • Application: 
      • These elements are important in technologies of consumer electronics, computers and networks, communications, clean energy, advanced transportation, healthcare, environmental mitigation, and national defense, among others. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
      • Scandium is used in televisions and fluorescent lamps, and yttrium is used in drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis and cancer.
      • Rare Earth elements are used in space shuttle components, jet engine turbines, and drones.
        • Cerium, the most abundant Rare Earth element, is essential to NASA’s Space Shuttle Programme.

Additional Information

  • Why does China dominate the sector?
    • In China, the mining of Rare Earths began in the 1950s.
    • At present, China refines approximately 80%-90% of the world’s Rare Earths, thereby having substantial control over their supply. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
    • According to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, after the Cultural Revolution in China ended, the country focussed on exploiting its natural resources.
      • In 1992, on a visit to the Rare Earths district of Baotou in Inner Mongolia, China’s paramount leader Deng Xiaoping said: “The Middle East has its oil, China has Rare Earths; China’s Rare Earths deposits account for 80% of identified global reserves, you can compare the status of these reserves to that of oil in the Middle East. It is of extremely important strategic significance; we must be sure to handle the Rare Earth issue properly and make the fullest use of our country’s advantage in Rare Earth resources.”
  • 10 countries that mined the most rare earth metals in 2019, as per the latest data from US Geological Survey. 
    • China
    • The US
    • Myanmar
    • Australia
    • India
    • Russia
    • Madagascar
    • Thailand
    • Brazil
    • Vietnam Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

Related Questions

There is a hint in this question and a statement is given later. Carefully read the excerpts provided and determine the statement based on that episode. The current Australian team has lost three of their last five Test series. They lost their last two Test series, one of which was against Pakistan, which is not considered to be a strong team now. Australia's two best batsman, Steve Smith and David Warner are currently suspended and their absence has weakened the Australian team. There is a lot of dissatisfaction and introspection about how their national team plays in Australia, how they show aggression on the field, how they do not show respect to the team against them, and neglecting the media at the most, and focusing only on winning only, the discussion on the future of the game is ongoing. There are. Australian cricket never reached such a low level. This is the best opportunity to knock them into their own house. In other words, if this India could not beat Australia in Australia in this series, then it would prove that the campaign around this team is only the same: the propaganda. Statement: India has a good chance of defeating Australia. Choose the right one from the next option A - The statement is completely true. B - statement is most true. There is no definitive definition based on C-statement. D-statement is completely false.
Recently, the USA decided to support India's membership in multilateral export control regimes called the "Australia Group" and the "Wassenaar Arrangement". What is the difference between them? 1. The Australia Group is an informal arrangement which aims to allow exporting countries to minimize the risk of assisting chemical and biological weapons proliferation, whereas the Wassenaar Arrangement is a formal group under the OECD holding identical objectives. 2. The Australia Group comprises predominantly of Asian, African and North American countries, whereas the member countries of Wassenaar Arrangement are predominantly from the European Union and American continents. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? 
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Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives and click the button corresponding to it.
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Why are ants called the 'Earth's' most successful species?
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Read the passage carefully and select the best answer to each question out of the given four alternatives.
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Which of the following is not the reason for the oppression caused to general public by the running government in the country?
Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives and click the button corresponding to it.
Ants have been living on the earth for more than 100 million years and can be found almost anywhere on the planet. It is estimated that there are about 20000 different species of ants. For this reason ants have been called Earth's most successful species. If you watch ants for any length of time you will see that they really do communicate with each other and very effectively too. Ants communicate by touching each other with their antennae. Ants also use chemicals called pheromones to leave scent trails for other ants to follow. Ants build many different types of homes. Many ants build simple little mounds out of dirt or sand. Other ants use small sticks mixed with dirt and sand to make a stronger mound that offers protection from rain. Western Harvester ants make a small mound on top, but then tunnels up to 15 feet straight down to hibernate during winter. Ant mounds consist of many chambers connected by tunnels. Different chambers are used for nurseries, food storage, and resting places for the worker ants. Some ants live in wood like termites. Army ants don't make a home at all but travel in a large groups searching for food. Ants are social insects which means they live in large colonies or groups. Some colonies consist of millions of ants. There are three types of ants in each species, the queen, the sterile female workers and males. The male ants only serve one purpose, to mate with future queen ants and do not live very long. The queen grows to adulthood, mates, and then spends rest of her life laying eggs. A colony may have only one queen, or there may be many queens depending on the species. Ants go through four stages of development: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Antennae are used by ants to
Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives and click the button corresponding to it.
Ants have been living on the earth for more than 100 million years and can be found almost anywhere on the planet. It is estimated that there are about 20000 different species of ants. For this reason ants have been called Earth's most successful species. If you watch ants for any length of time you will see that they really do communicate with each other and very effectively too. Ants communicate by touching each other with their antennae. Ants also use chemicals called pheromones to leave scent trails for other ants to follow. Ants build many different types of homes. Many ants build simple little mounds out of dirt or sand. Other ants use small sticks mixed with dirt and sand to make a stronger mound that offers protection from rain. Western Harvester ants make a small mound on top, but then tunnels up to 15 feet straight down to hibernate during winter. Ant mounds consist of many chambers connected by tunnels. Different chambers are used for nurseries, food storage, and resting places for the worker ants. Some ants live in wood like termites. Army ants don't make a home at all but travel in a large groups searching for food. Ants are social insects which means they live in large colonies or groups. Some colonies consist of millions of ants. There are three types of ants in each species, the queen, the sterile female workers and males. The male ants only serve one purpose, to mate with future queen ants and do not live very long. The queen grows to adulthood, mates, and then spends rest of her life laying eggs. A colony may have only one queen, or there may be many queens depending on the species. Ants go through four stages of development: egg, larva, pupa and adult. What does the Western Harvester do in winter ?
Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives and click the button corresponding to it.
Ants have been living on the earth for more than 100 million years and can be found almost anywhere on the planet. It is estimated that there are about 20000 different species of ants. For this reason ants have been called Earth's most successful species. If you watch ants for any length of time you will see that they really do communicate with each other and very effectively too. Ants communicate by touching each other with their antennae. Ants also use chemicals called pheromones to leave scent trails for other ants to follow. Ants build many different types of homes. Many ants build simple little mounds out of dirt or sand. Other ants use small sticks mixed with dirt and sand to make a stronger mound that offers protection from rain. Western Harvester ants make a small mound on top, but then tunnels up to 15 feet straight down to hibernate during winter. Ant mounds consist of many chambers connected by tunnels. Different chambers are used for nurseries, food storage, and resting places for the worker ants. Some ants live in wood like termites. Army ants don't make a home at all but travel in a large groups searching for food. Ants are social insects which means they live in large colonies or groups. Some colonies consist of millions of ants. There are three types of ants in each species, the queen, the sterile female workers and males. The male ants only serve one purpose, to mate with future queen ants and do not live very long. The queen grows to adulthood, mates, and then spends rest of her life laying eggs. A colony may have only one queen, or there may be many queens depending on the species. Ants go through four stages of development: egg, larva, pupa and adult. What kind of homes do the army of ants build ?