With China’s restrictive rare earths export policies having triggered a rush for other nations to get their hands on the sought-after set of critical minerals, Canada has hopes of filling the REE void left by China, according to the Gemcom Software Mining blog.

A nation already rich in a broad variety of mineral resources, Canada is known to also have significant REE deposits, which it is beginning to harness.  Having moved from exploratory drilling to development drilling at Quest Rare Minerals’ Strange Lake property on the Quebec-Labrador border, Canada was also recently sought out by Japan’s Toyota for a joint venture to expedite development of rare earth mines in Quebec.

While the U.S. is re-entering the REE market – Molycorp is taking the lead with the reopening of its Californian Mountain Pass mine here – Canada (and particularly Quebec, which has embraced a coordinated resource-development plan with its “Plan Nord”), is known to have a significantly better mining climate than the United States.  Our neighbors to the North are clearly maximizing their mining potential. Is the U.S. comfortable with riding bench?