South African miners face a conundrum: increasing palladium and rhodium output to take advantage of soaring prices risks depressing the already fragile market for sister metal platinum.

The move is part of the company's efforts to increase its footprint beyond beyond Burundi, where it runs the continent's only producing rare earths mine.

Before the 2011 Arab Spring uprising, Tunisia was one of the world’s largest producers of the fertilizer component, creating as much as 8.2 million tons per year.

With Zimbabwe going through its worst economic crisis in a decade, desperate citizens are turning to illegal gold mining to make a living.