Moving to another country to extract rare materials without permission already tells that there are flaws in the system.
Some parts of the Asian and Western world has always find interest in other people's rare earth metals, especially in those third world countries. What if someone was actually paid?. It happens a lot in so many third world countries. These foreigners makes a deal with either the government or anyone in charge, in exchange for their earth metals.
The exploitations of rare raw materials/metals from the third world mainly by the Western countries and later followed by some of the Asian countries didn't really started today. What do you think was the motive for colonisation in the first instance? So they be able to have access and exploit these resources, and today we still have it in that form through a system of neocolonialism. Where some native authorities aid in these illegalities behind closed doors.