It is five years since the giant trucks hauling ore around the Mountain Pass mine in California’s Mojave desert fell silent. Molycorp, the only major rare earths producer in the US, had just collapsed under the weight of a $1.7bn debt. The bankruptcy burnt investors and left the nation almost entirely reliant on China for the supply of 17 metallic elements that are embedded in most high-tech products from wind turbines to electric vehicles and F-35 fighter jets.
五年前，在美國加利福尼亞州莫哈維沙漠(Mojave Desert)芒廷帕斯(Mountain Pass)礦山運載礦石的重型卡車停了下來。美國唯一主要稀土生產商Molycorp剛剛在17億美元債務的重壓下倒閉。這一破產讓投資者蒙受損失，並導致美國幾乎完全依賴中國供應稀土。從風力發電機、電動汽車到F-35戰鬥機，大部分高科技產品都需要這17種金屬元素。
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