Thorium is found in small amounts in most rocks and soils; it is three times more abundant than tin in the Earth's crust and is about as common as lead.

[and later]

Present knowledge of the distribution of thorium resources is poor because of the relatively low-key exploration efforts arising out of insignificant demand.

Something may be "common" and still uneconomical to mine.  There's a whole bunch of gold in sea water and even at today's prices nobody has been foolish enough to try and extract it.

Further, I note the extensive use of the Future Tense in the Los Alamos Gee-Whiz page on Thorium Reactors as well as some out-right falsehoods [emphasis added:]

Because of no risk of proliferation or meltdown, thorium reactors can be made of almost any size.

NO risk?  

The thorium fuel cycle creates 233U, which, if separated from the reactor's fuel, can be used for making nuclear weapons.

[from the Wikipedia link]

And, once again, we see the nuke-power people are in half-truth/lying mode.


She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre