China has cornered 97% of the world market for rare earth metals, according to Byron King (the Times Online puts the number at 95%, and the Financial Times puts the number at "over 90%").

What are rare earth metals? Most people define them as including the following 17 metals:

Cerium
Dysprosium
Erbium
Europium
Gadolinium
Holmium
Lanthanum
Lutetium
Neodymium
Praseodymium
Promethium
Samarium
Scandium
Terbium
Thulium
Ytterbium
Yttrium

Some people also include some or all of the Actinide Series elements as rare earths. The Actinides include:

Actinium
Americium
Berkelium
Californium
Curium
Einsteinium
Fermium
Lawrencium
Mendelevium
Neptunium
Nobelium
Plutonium
Protactinium
Thorium
Uranium
 
As …