We call them critical minerals because they're critical.
A handful of elements that we need for modern technologies.
Whoever controls the production and processing of these critical minerals will control the 21st century economy the way that control of petroleum defined the 20th century economy.
China controls 90% of these minerals and this worries the U.S. because...
So the U.S. needs to find them stat.
Some of the places we're looking are uneasy about the attention.
They want to make sure it's not done at the expense of a community that can't afford it.
Some, like the ocean, are as yet unexplored.
And some asteroids are on the bleeding edge of what we can even imagine.
Coming up on Today Explained, Minecraft.
Support for today's show comes from BetterHelp.
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