Site below has critical info on ore deposits and mining. The REEs mentioned are Rare Earth Elements that are particularly important for permanent magnets (think wind turbines) but the ore that is probably most important for our civilization is phosphorus. Used in fertilizer - needed to produce food. Ranks right up there in importance with coal (for energy).
http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2016/finalwebsite/solutions/deposits.html
http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2016/finalwebsite/problems/phosphorus.html
https://mineralseducationcoalition.org/minerals-database/phosphate-rock/
https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/phosphate_rock/phospmyb03.pdf
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Also note that companies that mine land owned by the US Bureau of Land Management (i.e., you and me) are exempt from paying federal royalty payments per the Mining Law of 1872. "This law applies only to hardrock minerals – gold, silver, copper, iron, uranium and the like. It doesn’t apply to oil, gas and coal. … A 2012 Government Accountability Office report attempted to pin this number down. It couldn’t. It nonetheless roughly estimated $6.4 billion in hardrock-mining profits from public lands. If the industry paid royalties comparable to oil and gas, hardrock royalty payments would be as high as $800 million." That's a nice chunk of change that the US Treasury is totally missing out on!
https://www.revealnews.org/article/foreign-owned-mines-operate-royalty-free-under-outdated-us-law/