The shortage of these materials drove the isolated northern Japanese town of Kosaka to re-open its mining industry, which started declining in the 1970s. But now, instead of smelting ore, they're engaged in "urban mining": recycling metals and minerals from disused electronics like cellphones and computers.

"We've literally discovered gold in cellphones," said politician Tetsuzo Fuyushiba after visiting Kosaka's recycling plant, according to the New York Times article. And of course, China has many metallurgical companies handling both raw material and recycling, the largest being Hang Seng-listed China Metal Recycling (Holdings) Limited.