What are critical and rare-earth metals?

Cosmos Magazine, Other, 18/03/2022, Amalyah Hart
Critical minerals are vital for the world’s economic wellbeing; nickel, manganese and cobalt, all of which are mined in Australia, are needed to make batteries, for example, which will power a greener future, and alumina (aluminium oxide) is needed to make lithium-ion batteries. […] As research scientist Chris Vernon, who leads the Green Mineral Technologies initiative at CSIRO, puts it, the first rare earths on the chain, lanthanum and cerium, are “common as muck”.

Read more: https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/engineering/rare-earth-metals-key-to-renewable-energy-econom/