Story here.

The status of U.S. rare earth mining here.

^Molycorp ultimately plans to produce at least nine different rare earth products at a cheaper cost - and higher environmental performance - than Chinese mines, according to company officials.^

^Wastewater, once dumped on a desert playa 14 miles from the mine, will be reused at the mine, trimming water consumption from 850 gallons per hour to less than half that amount, Smith said. Hydrochloric acid, the main ingredient used to separate the rare earths, will be recycled using new treatment units, offsetting the need for 10 to 15 tankers to import the chemical daily from Las Vegas.^

^"We are increasing our recovery rate and using less water," said Smith, adding that the reduced truck traffic and new lower-carbon power sources will also reduce air pollution emissions. "We will need less than half the ore to produce just as much product."^

^The firm is also donating land to the Bureau of Land Management to be used as a sanctuary for adolescent desert tortoises, a federally protected species. While the tortoises rarely venture to the Mountain Pass mine's mile-high elevation, they are threatened by an influx of ravens into the desert and the encroachment of numerous energy and other development projects.^

^Federally protected Joshua trees that are removed during the construction and mining process will be cared for in nurseries and replanted after the mine site is reclaimed to the same configuration as before, Smith said.^

^...Meanwhile, a deposit at Bokan Mountain on the southern tip of Alaska's Prince of Wales Island is regarded as another possible compliment to Mountain Pass's relatively "light" deposit. Historical estimates by the U.S. Bureau of Mines suggest the Bokan property, located within the Tongass National Forest, may contain up to 374 million pounds of rare earths, roughly half of which are heavy rare earths.^

^...Exploratory drilling began in Alaska this month, but even after potential deposits have been confirmed and financing is secured, government and industry officials say it could take seven to 15 years obtain the regulatory approvals to open a mine, according to an April report by the Government Accountability Office^.

Anybody think the U.S. will actually underprice or outproduce the Chinese? I doubt the Chinese are coddling tortoises, putting trees in nurseries for years, and waiting a decade and a half for government permission to start work.