Rare earth metals are found throughout our solar system. The asteroid belt is probably the area with the greatest potential to provide all of mankind’s needs for centuries to come. To bad we don’t have a space program anymore.

China accounts for about 97% of global rare-earth production.

OK, gloveshot is correct. But we have no way of delivering these elements back to Earth. Even the military shuttle can bring back at most two tonnes.

China must be wetting themselves over this,

Fortunately, rare earth metals aren’t rare; there’s some French etymology involved with the name, just to fuck with us.
Unfortunately, we haven’t been mining/refining them, and no one else has either.  The environmental and other impact studies would take years before any mining could begin, so we’re 10+ years before meaningful yields of refined stuff.  Maybe I’m pessimistic…
Yes, China must be wetting themselves a new Yellow River.

A real space program would include constant research and development. And it would not be limited to bigger shuttles. It would include robotic mining ships, low gravity smelting, colonization, agriculture, synthesis....

While NASA is terribly underfunded, they do do work in all of those areas. Now that the whole “Let’s revisit that orbiting piece of space shit!” is off the table, they’ll hopefully do more progressive stuff.