Wyoming Strikes 2.34 Billion Tons of Rare Minerals, Leaving China Rattled Alyssa Miller 8 months ago Source: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
![A stripped down mobile phone and mobile phone parts lie on a table with minerals representing substances typically found in a mobile phone, including (from top L) bauxite, from which aluminum is derived, a lepidolith mineral that contains lithium, a chalkopyrit mineral that contains copper, a piece of quartz that contains silicon, a piece of bituminous shale, from which plastic is derived, and chunk of magnetic iron at a press conference for a German government intiative to recycle mobile phones on August 28, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. The inititative, which is called: "The Resources Expidition: Discover, What's In Your Mobile Phone!" ("Die Rohstoff Expidition: Entdecke, was in [d]einem Handy steckt!") will furnish schools nationwide with learning materials and a box of mineral samples in an effort to encourage schoolschildren to recycle their old mobile phones.](https://images.pastchronicle.com/2024/06/9361914c-gettyimages-150859388-414x276.jpg)