Tricky to process, and normally found with Thorium for some reason, I think the Thorium waste is what processing it toxic, I think I’m just a humble physics graduate.

I did watch a video about the processing of some of the rare earths, to refine three of them a series of ion exchanges were used, very interesting but I can see why they’d be so expensive.

THe purification is the problem, not the mining

It isn't a technical problem though, it's just a lot easier when you have China's trio of:

Government subsidized energy

Criminally cheap and unsafe labor

No cares for the local environmental effects

It's a cost issue, because in the US or EU none of those three factors are present. Instead we've all 'outsourced' that mess to China.

"...criminally cheap and unsafe labor..." Source?