Mainly in comparison to the distribution of oil which I understand is a lot more established. Will there come a point whereby batteries can’t be economically produced?
Do we have any idea where these minerals are likely to be?
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We know where they are – they’re fairly widespread in terms of reserves ([source](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/rare-earth-elements-where-in-the-world-are-they/)), but there’s significant disparity in terms of actual mining, refining and production. A big reason production diverges from reserves is each country’s willingness/ability to withstand the environmental impacts of mining and production. But the reserves are still there, even if they’re not currently being mined.
Hard to know if and when we’ll reach a point where it’s not economically feasible to mine REE, but we’re nowhere near that threshold now and extraction and refining tech will improve over time, likely reducing both cost and environmental impacts.
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