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It’s a rare fight. The US, Europe and Japan have with the World Trade Organization over China’s export of rare earths – or lack of it.

China produces 95 per cent of the global supply of the 17 metals, which are used in technologies from cellphones to wind turbines, but it has set up .

Despite their name, rare earths can be mined on most continents, although the cost of extraction has been too high to be economical. China’s quotas may have helped push up demand – and prices – enough to make extraction cost-effective.

Several companies are now outside China. In 2010, US company reopened the in California for the first time in eight years. Australia’s has a pilot plant in New South Wales, and by the end of 2013.

Shifting mining outside of China could be a good thing, says David Manning of Newcastle University in the UK. Rare earths are often mixed up with radioactive uranium and thorium, which must be carefully disposed of, and toxic acids are used during processing. “It would be very good for mining to take place in countries where regulations are strict and can be enforced,” he says.

China is now imposing stricter regulations. As of last year, only companies that comply are allowed to export rare earths. “They are heading in the right direction,” says of the British Geological Survey.