The minerals are needed to make permanent magnets, which are mainly used in direct-drive turbines.
One rare-earth element, neodymium, is a key ingredient in about 5% of direct-drive turbines, and is increasingly being used in other products, including hybrid cars. Turbines can each use up to half a tonne of the metal. Turbine makers were alarmed when the Chinese restrictions were announced last year, fearing that prices for rare-earth metals would rise.
Fundamentally,
