The German mining company Deutsche Rohstoff AG announced on January 10 that it had formed a new company called Seltenerden Storkwitz AG that would begin drilling in spring 2012 for rare earth elements (REE) from mines in Saxony, in East Germany . . . the mines are the only known rare earth deposits in Central Europe and is expected to produce almost 42,000 U.S. tons of REE’s . . . Seltenerden Storkwitz has received around $2.7 million from investors in Germany . . . Beijing announced in December that it would cut overall production output of rare earth elements to around 70 percent by 2015 . . . China currently controls 95 percent of all rare earth exports . . . rare earth elements are critical to the aerospace, electronics, construction and defense industries . . . the European Union is desperate to acquire its own supply of rare earth elements following the announcement of Chinese production cuts . . . Beijing is cutting exports of rare earth elements in order to divert more of its production to its own high tech and defense industries.