Rare earth elements are frequently in the headlines, but many are relatively common in Earth’s crust; the “rare” label refers to their tendency to occur in low-concentration deposits rather than concentrated ore bodies. Examples include europium (~2 ppm), samarium (~7 ppm), erbium (~3 ppm) and cerium (~68 ppm). The challenge is extracting and separating them economically and with acceptable environmental impact, which explains why supply chains and geopolitics are so active around these materials.
Are Rare Earths Really Rare? Why They're Common — But Hard to Mine
Rare earth elements are frequently in the headlines, but many are relatively common in Earth’s crust; the “rare” label refers to their tendency to occur in low-concentration deposits rather than concentrated ore bodies. Examples include europium (~2 ppm), samarium (~7 ppm), erbium (~3 ppm) and cerium (~68 ppm). The challenge is extracting and separating them economically and with acceptable environmental impact, which explains why supply chains and geopolitics are so active around these materials.
09:56 AM, 11/14/2025Economy
Are Rare Earths Really Rare?
There’s been a lot of recent attention on “rare earth” elements and minerals: strategic rivalry between China and the United States over supply, U.S. policy linking mineral access to broader geopolitical support, and proposals to mine these materials even from fragile deep-sea ecosystems. With all the noise, a simple question is worth asking: how rare are rare earths, actually?
Short answer
Measured by median crustal abundance (MCA), many rare earth elements are not particularly scarce in Earth’s crust. The term “rare” stems not from overall global abundance but from their geologic behavior: these elements usually occur dispersed through many minerals rather than concentrated in dense, high-grade ore bodies (like copper, iron, or gold). That dispersion makes them difficult and costly to concentrate, extract and separate.
Selected examples and typical abundances
Europium: Europium was among the first rare earths processed commercially in the U.S.; in the early 1950s it helped enable color-television chemistry. Natural europium consists mainly of two isotopes (151Eu and 153Eu) and is typically recovered together with other rare earths. Its MCA is about 2 parts per million (ppm), far higher than gold (≈ 0.004 ppm).
Samarium: Samarium is used in high-resolution lasers and, when alloyed with cobalt, in magnets that tolerate very high temperatures — a property valuable for radar and other electronics. Samarium does not occur in pure form but in minerals such as monazite and florencite; its MCA is about 7 ppm.
Erbium: Erbium, with an MCA near 3 ppm, is important in fiber-optic systems. Its Er3+ ions help amplify light signals, enabling long-distance telephony, global internet traffic and some medical lasers.
Cerium: The most abundant rare earth, cerium, has an MCA around 68 ppm, comparable to copper. In the 19th century cerium (and thorium) was used in gas mantles to light streets in Europe.
Why they matter despite wide distribution
Once extracted and refined, rare earth elements are integral to modern life: high-strength magnets for electric vehicles and wind turbines, components in smartphones and microprocessors, and optical glass for camera lenses and displays. Their widespread use — combined with the technical difficulty of separating individual elements, the environmental impacts of mining and processing (including radioactive by-products in some ores), and concentrated refining capacity in a few countries — makes them strategically important.
In short: rare earths are widely distributed and not intrinsically scarce in the crust, but their geology and the economic, technical and environmental costs of producing usable material make them expensive and geopolitically sensitive.
Note: Discussion of deep-sea mining, processing waste, and national security concerns continues to evolve. When reading coverage, pay attention to the difference between chemical abundance and practical availability.