I just wanted to add, as mentioned by Ms. Luisa, $120 million has been invested by the Department of Energy in the United States to create the Critical Materials Institute. I'm aware of something similar, although I don't know the exact magnitude of funding, in the European Union. The European Commission in Brussels has funded the creation of a European network, industry-academia, to pursue rare earth metal development within the European Union.
On February 13th, 2014. See this statement in context.