The U.S. has sufficient natural supply of rear earth elements but the cost of mining them is too great because of the price set by China have given it, in effect, a monopoly. "They have priced the stuff so low that they have made it impossible to mine it here," Lifton said.

If the price of rare earth metals was competitive, Lifton said he believes the U.S. could revive some manufacturing industries.

The major source of rare earth deposits in the U.S. was at Mountain Pass, Calif., but mining operations ceased 2002. The new mine owner, Molycorp Minerals LLC, sells existing deposits, but it is working on a plan to resume mining.

But mining is only part of the process. The U.S. has lost its capacity to manufacture rare earth metals, and those capabilities will have to be reintroduced into the U.S.

One of the last U.S. companies manufacturing rare earth magnets was Valparaiso Ind.-based Magnequench Inc., which was acquired by a Chinese company and eventually moved to China about five years ago.