https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/o/pp1802o.pdf

United States From 2012 to 2015, the United States was a leading producer of rare-earth minerals outside of China. All mine production of REEs during this period was from Molycorp, Inc.’s Mountain Pass Mine in San Bernardino County, California. Mine production at Mountain Pass began in 1952 but was discontinued from 2002 to 2011 because of low rare-earth prices and environmental permitting issues. In 2012, Molycorp commissioned new mine and processing operations that had an initial planned (but never fully realized) production capacity of 19,000 metric tons per year of REOs. Because of substantial decreases in the market prices of the REEs, however, Molycorp idled operations at the Mountain Pass Mine in 2015. Exploration and development assessment projects in the United States include Bokan Mountain, Alaska; La Paz, Arizona; Diamond Creek, Idaho; Lemhi Pass in Idaho and Montana; Pea Ridge, Missouri; Elk Creek, Nebraska; Thor Mine, Nevada; Round Top, Texas; and Bear Lodge, Wyoming. Domestic reserves of REOs were estimated to be 1.8 million metric tons (Gambogi, 2015).

China floods market lowering prices, American producers price too low stop production. If china imposes tarrifs another American industry could roar back to life.

>>6616519

oops! forgot this

Special counsel Robert Mueller is set to make his first public statement on the Russia investigation Wednesday, the Justice Department said.

Mueller will speak at the Justice Department at 11 a.m. and won’t take any questions.

It was not clear what he intended to say, but the statement comes amid demands for Mueller to testify on Capitol Hill about his findings and tension with Attorney-General William Barr over the handling of his report.

Mueller’s report into Russia meddling in the 2016 election did not find that Russia and the Trump campaign co-ordinated to sway the presidential election. It also did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump had obstructed justice, with Mueller saying he did not think it would be fair to publicly accuse the president of a crime if he could not charge him. A Justice Department legal opinion says sitting presidents cannot be indicted.

Barr has said he was surprised that Mueller did not reach a conclusion, and decided with Deputy Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein that the evidence did not support an obstruction of justice allegation.

https://www.voanews.com/a/libyan-commander-hands-over-prominent-militant-to-egypt/4937106.html

CAIRO —

A prominent Egyptian militant wanted for scores of terror attacks in his country was handed over by Libyan forces loyal to a commander pushing to take the capital of Tripoli and flown back to Egypt on Wednesday.

Egyptian TV networks aired footage of a blindfolded Hisham el-Ashmawi, a former army officer turned militant, landing in Cairo and being taken off a military plane.

El-Ashmawi was captured last October in the Libyan city of Derna, a longtime bastion of Islamic militants, by commander Khalifa Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army. Haftar's forces now are battling to take Tripoli, fighting militias allied to a U.N.-supported government based in the Libyan capital.

El-Ashmawi's return to Egypt came after a meeting Tuesday between Haftar and Egypt's intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, in the eastern city of Benghazi, which serves as Haftar's base.

>>6616743

A senior White House official said “the White House was notified” on Tuesday night that Mueller might make a statement Wednesday.