Most rare‑earth ore occurs as a geochemical stew, so producers must grind, acid‑leach, and solvent‑wash huge volumes of rock before they bottle a kilogram of oxide. The solvents themselves are toxic; the tailings ponds can leach heavy metals; and any thorium or uranium hitch‑hikers raise radioactivity concerns.
Open‑pit mines also chew through landscapes, consume prodigious energy, and disrupt local water tables. In short, the elements may not be geologically rare, but clean, socially acceptable production sites are. That scarcity, not crustal abundance, keeps supply tight and prices volatile.
I don't really know what the launch detection sensors' capabilities are. However, there's probably a detectably different spectrographic signature from solid fuel rockets like ICBMs versus Neutron's methalox.
edit: are you talking about utilities that produce and distribute energy, or the companies that provide fuel for them? Because a case can be made for mining operations like Exxon & etc to be subject to market competition, whereas natural monopolies like your local electric utility should be publicly owned, i.e. owned by the government, and not have ownership shares traded privately or in public markets.
Its the students themselves who are criminally conservative, in addition to the schools administrative hierarchy promoting far-right neo-feudalism and calling it capitalism.
Rape, assault, and battery are the accepted norm among the Harvard student body.
Now Tom said, "Mom, wherever there's a cop beating a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there's a fight against the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me, Mom, I'll be there
https://interestingengineering.com/culture/eare-earths-mine-usa-china