Rare-Earth Metals

A class of substances known as rare earth metals is used to power modern technology, including wind turbines, automobiles, televisions, and mobile phones. As all of them, including indium, tellurium, rhodium, and others, are necessary for making modern technology smaller, faster, and more effective, the Japanese refer to them as the "seeds of technology."

Regrettably, they share with many other natural resources on this list the disadvantage of being limited and rare in supply. Many rare Earth elements have no other known reserves and are about to completely run out. The rare Earth metal mines in China, the world's largest supplier of rare earth materials, are predicted to run dry in less than 20 years if demand continues at this rate. Some of those metals, such as indium, are over-mined to the point where they might not even survive ten years!