Rare earth
(Book)

Marc Royce stares out of the helicopter, a sense of foreboding rising with the volcanic cloud. Below,the Rift Valley slashes across Africa like a scar. Decades of conflicts, droughts, and natural disasters have left their mark. Dispatched to audit a relief organization, Royce is thrust into the squalor and chaos of Kenyan refugee camps. But his true mission focuses on the area's reserves of once-obscure metals now indispensable to high-tech industries. These strategic elements -- called rare earth -- have inflamed tensions on the world's stage and stoked tribal rivalries. As Royce prepares to report back to Washington, he seizes on a bold and risky venture for restoring justice to this troubled land.