A report by state news agency Xinhua paints a particularly grim picture of China's rare earth industry which belies the notion that China's crackdown has more to do with managing supply and extracting lofty profits than it is about cleaning up a notoriously dirty business.
The 216 million tonne Jongju deposit 150km north of Pyongjang, theoretically worth trillions of dollars, would more than double the current global known resource of REE oxides.
Rio Tinto, which is seeking to divest less profitable assets, said last November that it was selling its 69% stake in the world's longest-running open pit uranium mine to China for up to $106.5 million.
The threat to weaponize strategic materials ratchets up the tension between the world’s two biggest economies before an expected meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump at the G-20 meeting next month.