zil by entering into this rare-earth market, and I think it's an important thing for the West as a whole. It would also benefit Vale as a company," Science and Technology Minister Aloizio Mercadante told the U.K. newspaper. The government has met several industrial companies to line up customers for rare earths, a group of 17 elements used in producing components for wind turbines, electric cars and computer screens, among other goods. Vale confirmed that it's looking at investing in the production of rare earths, adding that the project remains at a "preliminary stage," according to thss in Texas and yet we run it like it was a soda water stand -- or a barbecue stand," Clements said shortly before turning over the chief executive's job to Democrat Mark White, who upset his re-election bid in 1982. White, a lawyer, was part owner of a barbecue firm in the Central Texas town of Valley Mills. Clements came back four years later to defeat White. "I think that what happened in the last four years is without a doubt a new page in our Texas history in the management of our state government," Clements said at the end of his first term. Clements' second term was marred from the beginning by his involvement in a pay-for-play football scandal at Southern Methodist University, which led the NCAA to suspend the football program for two years. Clements was chairman of the school's governing board between his terms as governor and acknowledged participating in the decision to let the payments continue. Tragedy struck the Clements family last year when his son, B. Gill Clements, was found shot to death and buried in a shallow grave behind a home adjacent to the Clements' East Texas ranch. B. Gill Clements was apparently shot by a neighbor who was known for using an assault weapon to guard his property. Authorities shot and killed the neighbor. William Perry Clements Jr. was born and reared in Dallas, attending Highland Park High School where he was an all-state football lineman. He turned down athletic scholarship offers from several colleges to work in South Texas oil fields when his father, a real estate man and farmer, found the Depression tough going. After eight years as an oil roughneck and driller, he graduated from Southern Methodist in 1939. In 1947, he and I.P. Larue launched SEDCO Inc. with borrowed funds and two old drilling rigs. He bought out Larue in 1955 for $1.2 million. SEDCO, an oil and gas drilling company, operated throughout the world with several subsidiaries. SEDCO merged with Schlumberger Limited in 1984 and Clements retired as chairman a year later. The multimillionaire Dallas oilman turned back early attempts of Texas Republicans to recruit him for statewide political races but worked actively in the party. He also was active in civic and professional posts, including membership on the board of governors of SMU and the national executive board of the Boy Scouts of America. After heading Richard Nixon's 1972 presidential campaign in Texas, Clements served as deputy secretary of defense for the U.S. Department of Defense from 1973 to 1977. At the urging of his wife, Rita, a former national GOP committeewoman he called his "secret weapon," Clements decided to campaign for governor in 1978. First he swamped Ray Hutchinson of Dallas, former state GOP chairman, in the party primary. Then he defeated Democrat John Hill by 16,900 votes in November 1978. Clements warned Texas lawmakers about what he called their "letter to Santa Claus" attitude toward state revenues based largely on oil and gas taxes