Rare Earth Prices Surge, Driven by Chinese Domestic Increases; Terbium and Dysprosium See Notable Gains

[SMM Rare Earth News Flash] Recently, the key R&D plan project of the autonomous region—"Research on Integrated Information Prospecting Prediction and Exploration Demonstration of Ion-Adsorbed Heavy Rare Earth Ore in Guangxi Based on Artificial Intelligence"—led by the Guangxi No. 274 Geological Team and implemented in conjunction with the Institute of Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, was officially launched in Nanning. As one of the main producing areas of ion-adsorbed rare earth ore in south China, Guangxi has abundant rare earth resources but insufficient exploration accuracy. The project will rely on the geological data and exploration experience of the Guangxi Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources and, with the help of artificial intelligence technology, construct a multi-source heterogeneous information fusion model, focusing on breaking through the bottleneck of spatial positioning accuracy of heavy rare earth orebodies. After the project launch meeting, the team went to a typical mining area to conduct the first phase of joint field reconnaissance.

[SMM Rare Earth Flash News] The Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) of the US Department of Defense provided a conditional loan commitment of $500 million to rare earth refiner Phoenix Tailings. The loan, together with private capital, totals approximately $1 billion and will be used to build a rare earth midstream processing facility named "Freedom Facility," which will process various raw materials from mines, recyclers, etc., to produce light and heavy rare earth metals needed for US industrial and defense systems. Phoenix Tailings currently operates two metallization facilities in Burlington, Massachusetts and Exeter, New Hampshire. The new facility is targeted for initial operations in 2028.

[SMM Rare Earth Update] Australian mineral developer Arafura Rare Earths announced on June 30 that it has signed a binding offtake term sheet with a member of an Indian industrial group, under which it will supply 500 mt per year of Pr-Nd, dysprosium, and terbium oxides from its Nolans project in the Northern Territory, for an initial term of five years, with an option to extend for two years. The agreement is conditional upon the offtaker being formally designated as a beneficiary of the Indian government’s $815 million rare earth permanent magnet plan. The Nolans project is designed to produce 4,400 mt per year of Pr-Nd oxide and 470 mt per year of mixed medium-heavy rare earth oxides, with a mine life of at least 38 years, and can meet approximately 4% of global Pr-Nd demand. Combined with previously signed agreements with Hyundai, Siemens, and others, Arafura has now locked in 4,070 mt/yr of capacity (83.6%), with the remaining 370 mt/yr planned to be sold on the spot market.