A report by state news agency Xinhua paints a particularly grim picture of China's rare earth industry which belies the notion that China's crackdown has more to do with managing supply and extracting lofty profits than it is about cleaning up a notoriously dirty business.
The 216 million tonne Jongju deposit 150km north of Pyongjang, theoretically worth trillions of dollars, would more than double the current global known resource of REE oxides.