A number of Chinese investors has come to Greece to study and express their intention to mine the country's untapped rare earths metals reserves.

Greece is one of five European countries with rare earths metal and mineral reserves. The other four are Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. Greece's soil reportedly holds an estimated 40 billion euros worth (AUD57.32 billion) of mineral resources.

The rare earths metals reportedly are in Rhodope, Thessaloniki, Chios and Kilkis; in the coastal and underwater area of Strymonikos Bay; while bauxites can be found on the Greek mainland, according to the Greek Reporter.

The majority, the Greek Reporter added, lies in the underwater area of ​​the northern Aegean Sea and in Thrace.

Greece has started two research programs in both sea regions and mainland areas to locate those minerals. But researchers aren't ready yet to divulge details on the studies being made on Greece's rare deposits because they are still at the very early stages, Protothema News said. The studies require long and tedious investigations before offering tangible results, it added.

Rare earths are a group of 17 rare metallic elements highly essential to manufacture many hi-tech goods including consumer electronics, advanced medical equipment and military hardware.

The rare earths metals or elements typically include scandium (Sc-21), yttrium (Y-39) and the lanthanides - lanthanum (La-57), cerium (Ce-58), praseodymium (Pr-59), neodymium (Nd-60), promethium (Pm-61), samarium (Sm-62), europium (Eu-63), gadolinium (Gd-64), terbium (Tb-65), dysprosium (Dy-66), holmium (Ho-67), erbium (Er-68), thulium (Tm-69), ytterbium (Yb-70), and lutetium (Lu-71).

According to the Ames Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, the rare earths, when alloyed with other metals, can provide enhanced magnetic, strength and high temperature and other properties. For instance, high-strength magnets created from neodymium-iron-boron have been used in a variety of products, including electric motors and hybrid cars components.

Presently, majority or at 95 per cent of the world's rare earths are located in China, making the Chinese very skilled at finding and mining the rare minerals.

Greek Reporter said the Chinese investors interested in Greece's rare earths have agreed to cooperate on a technical and scientific level. It added China has signified to utilize some of the mineral reserves in the future.