Japan is hosting officials from the United States and Europe at a meeting on developing alternatives for rare earths.
Manufacturers need the minerals to make high-tech products from hybrid cars to mobile phones. The goal is to reduce their reliance on China, which has a near monopoly on them and has restricted exports.
The US, Japan and the European Union filed a case against China at the World Trade Organisation earlier in March, accusing China of interfering in the market to restrict their supply.
China rebuts the claims, saying it wants to reduce the environmental damage from rare earths - an extremely dirty business - and has led to production being stopped in other countries.
Fat Phophets resource analyst David Lennox says the meeting will pursue possible substitutes for rare earths in production processes and locate new sources of rare earths.
He says it is not expected that there will be concrete results out of the forum, but delegates will be expected to discuss in more detail how to move away from the Chinese dominance of rare earth production.
