The thing about rare earth metals is that they are located all over the world - and they're not particularly rare. The problem is that refining them produces huge quantities of toxic waste. China has a near-monopoly on the trade not just because they have a lot of them (they do) but because they're willing to pay the huge environmental penalty associated with the refining. [1]

[1] https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150402-the-worst-place-...

And by "we have" you mean a couple already wealthy soon to be disgusting rich dudes who have ended up with incredibly valuable mineral rights that the government sells for a small pittance?

(There is benefit to this being in my nation, and it's good for the world that this cache exists for us/humanity to benefit from. But a huge amount of that benefit will be captured by already very wealthy people. That makes me a bit mad and a bit sad, that something so amazing and game changing is so arbitrarily so cheaply sold off. It doesn't seem reasonable. It seems like this great nation is selling off key pieces of itself, is selling off body parts for spare change.)

I'll go one step further and offer the banker some advice.

Sell. Throw an auction, set a insanely low reserve price, and walk away with spending money now.

Sure, walking this through the regulatory minefield, forming a company to mine, process and exploit the resource would maximise value and make the bsnkrr stupendously rich. Or it might fail at some hurdle and consume his life.

In light of this valuation 10m might sound laughable. [1] but that's life-changing money, with time enough left to enjoy it. What use is a billion when you're 80?

There's a point where more money doesn't matter, but time ticks relentlessly away. Don't waste the time, take less money now.

I know, I know, I'm an old man. For someone in their 20s this looks like a lovely long-term career that'll make you stupid rich. And you will get rich. But you'll work hard for it. Time is more precious than money.

[1] granted he may already have this money - he dropped 2m on a coal mine - but pick a number and my point stands.

Then again, there are lots of mining companies so expect some bidding way past 10m. As long as 2 are involved it's not going to be "stolen".