The US Department of Energy’s new strategy for securing access to rare earth metals and other critical raw materials is fairly simple: Develop domestic supplies, diversify international supplies and establish a research and development program to conserve and recycle existing supplies, all while investigating alternatives.

Concerns have been mounting for years, paralleling the rise in imports of various mined materials (see the National Academy of Sciences’ 2008 analysis here, and a more recent Congressional Research Service analysis here). More specifically, China produces upward of 95 percent of the rare earth metals and has recently put a finer point on such fears by curtailing its exports (New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek).

Released Wednesday, the department’s Critical Materials Strategy takes an initial look at 14 elements that are fundamental for several clean energy technologies: wind turbines, batteries, advanced lighting and solar photovoltaic panels. Within this limited assessment, the agency identified six critical metals, including indium and five rare earths: dysprosium, neodymium, terbium, europium and yttrium.

The report discusses a host of policy options, including domestic price supports to spur production and material stockpiles to guard against shortages. The department recognizes that it can’t do much to promote domestic mining (although it might be able to use its loan guarantee program to promote domestic manufacturing of things like permanent magnets, which are critical for wind turbines and other applications). And working with other countries to boost supplies is a question of international diplomacy.

In terms of R&D, the department is focusing on everything from magnets and motors to better mining practices and materials processing. We can expect more details on how all of this might play out in the labs when the department issues an “integrated research plan” next year.