Rescuers have pulled out the bodies of seven miners who were buried on Saturday after their poaching for rare earth metals triggered a landslide in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, local authorities said Monday. The landslide took place at about 3:30 p.m. near a village in Cangwu county, Xinhua quoted a county government spokesman as saying earlier. Police also detained three other miners, who confessed they were pouring chemical solutions into holes they dug on a hilltop, which they hoped could bring them rare earth metals. Initial probes suggest that the devastating activity on the loose mountain earth led to the mishap. Rare earth metals are vital ingredients for manufacturing an array of sophisticated products, including cell phones, wind turbines, electric car batteries and missiles.
