BEIJING : This Dec. 21 story has been corrected to clarify that the ban was on the export of technology to make rare earth magnets and that the ban on technology to extract and separate critical materials was already in place, in paragraphs 1 and 6. It also removes context and the comment on rare earth processi
If it were a ban on the rare earth minerals themselves, yes, but a ban on the extraction technologies just secures dependence on Chinese sources.
The reason China is a major exporter of these minerals has less to do with their availability in China and more to do with their lax environmental regulations, which allow extraction via means that are prohibited in many other countries.
So preventing their extraction in countries where stricter environmental standards are in place just means more environmental damage.