Overseas Market Dynamics
Prices:
Rare Earth Oxides: Cerium oxide FOB was reported at $2,094-2,178/mt, cerium oxide CIF (Rotterdam) was reported at $2,827-2,837/mt, lanthanum oxide FOB was reported at $1,023-1,083/mt, praseodymium oxide FOB was reported at $128-131/kg, neodymium oxide FOB was reported at $163-195/kg, neodymium oxide CIF (Rotterdam) was reported at $250-270/kg, dysprosium oxide FOB was reported at $279-331/kg, remaining stable for now, terbium oxide FOB was reported at $1,193-1,281/kg, up by $30/kg.
Rare Earth Metals: Praseodymium metal FOB was reported at $164-172/kg, neodymium metal FOB was reported at $155-175/kg, yttrium metal FOB was reported at $33-38/kg, lanthanum metal FOB was priced at $3-3.1/kg, overall stability prevailed, terbium metal FOB was reported at $1,491-1,575/kg, up by $40/kg.
Trading: This week, overseas prices for terbium oxide and terbium metal showed a clear upward trend, mainly influenced by rising domestic prices. Light rare earths maintained a stable trading trend, while heavy rare earths, affected by approval policies, were still being quoted with no significant transactions yet.
This Week’s Overseas Market Dynamics
US Domestic Resource and Recycling Developments
In the first round of rock chip sampling at its Music Valley heavy rare earth project in California, Dateline Resources reported that all 33 surface samples showed anomalous rare earth grades, with one sample from the southern target area returning 7.13% TREO and two other samples located 650-800 meters apart returning 2.32% and 1.07% TREO respectively, validating the target model derived from high-resolution aeromagnetic and radiometric surveys; the project covers 20,000 acres. At its Whiteridge hydrometallurgical facility in Colorado, USA Rare Earth successfully produced commercial-grade dysprosium oxide and neodymium-praseodymium oxide samples using NdFeB machining swarf (magnet scrap) from its Stillwater, Oklahoma magnet plant, making it one of the few Western producers capable of separating heavy rare earths. The company expects swarf to meet 30% of future rare earth oxide raw material demand for magnetic materials and lay the groundwork for retired magnet recycling. ReElement Technologies received a $25 million investment from the US Department of Defense to expand its Marion, Indiana facility, processing recycled materials such as retired magnets into high-purity yttrium oxide, gadolinium oxide, germanium, and gallium for defense, aerospace, and secure communications applications, with terms restricting transactions with foreign entities.
Magnet Recycling and Alternative Technologies in Europe and Japan
Australia’s Ionic Rare Earths commissioned Tenova Advanced Technologies to commence a FEED study for its Belfast, UK magnet recycling plant, based on the IP of its subsidiary Ionic Technologies (which previously received a £12 million capital grant from the UK government); a final investment decision is expected by the end of September. Mitsubishi Electric launched a recycling program to extract neodymium-containing permanent magnets from retired household air conditioner compressors, marking Japan’s first large-scale rare earth recycling effort for household air conditioners. The plan targets approximately 230,000 units annually, and at a rate of less than 2 kg of high-purity rare earths per 100 units, annual recycling volume is estimated to be only a few tonnes, a huge gap compared with Japan’s annual consumption of about 20,000 tonnes. Concurrently, the Japan Association for the Promotion of International Trade coordinated a delegation to visit China from September 20 to 23. On June 22, acting president Hashimoto Takeo met Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Hua Chunying in Beijing and received a welcome. US-based Niron Magnetics signed a supply agreement with Japanese motor manufacturer Aspina to jointly develop DC brushless motors, hybrid stepping motors, and centrifugal fans based on Niron’s iron nitride permanent magnets (rare earth-free) for aerospace, automotive, consumer electronics, and automation applications. Niron produces rare earth-free permanent magnets at its Minnesota plant, and its Sartell full-scale production plant, with a designed capacity of 1,500 mt/year, is expected to start production in 2027. In January 2025, the plant received a $52 million tax credit from the US Department of Energy, and in October 2025, Niron partnered with Stellantis on rare earth-free motor design.
Indo-Pacific and South Korean Supply Chain Restructuring
India and Indonesia signed a joint supply chain agreement on critical minerals, rare earth permanent magnets, and stainless steel in Jakarta, as part of a comprehensive strategic partnership package: India’s NFTDC and Midwest signed an MOA with Indonesia’s Perminas to develop rare earth permanent magnets; SAIL and Krakatau Steel formed a joint venture to build a stainless steel plate plant in Indonesia; and India plans to invest in Indonesian nickel processing and rare earth permanent magnet facilities. In 2025, India imported 126,365 tonnes of ferronickel from Indonesia (accounting for the vast majority of its total imports of 134,279 tonnes). US-based REalloys and South Korea’s JS Link signed a non-binding LOI to evaluate building a rare earth supply chain covering raw material, separation, metal, and magnet stages in North America, serving defense, aerospace, automotive, robotics, AI, and energy. JS Link’s magnet plant in Chungnam, South Korea has a capacity of 1,000 mt/year and plans to invest $223 million in a new 3,000 mt/year plant in Georgia, scheduled to start production in 2027. On the same day, Lynas agreed to invest in a 3,000 mt/year magnet plant for JS Link in Malaysia, adjacent to Lynas’ separation plant. REalloys wholly owns the Hoidas Lake project in Saskatchewan, Canada, and in May signed a 15-year offtake agreement with Critical Metals to purchase rare earth concentrates from Greenland’s Tanbreez project.
Southeast Asian Resource and Processing Projects
Malaysia’s Special Select Committee on International Trade and International Relations of the Dewan Rakyat is scheduled to hold a hearing on July 16 concerning the $96 million rare earth supply agreement signed between Lynas and the US Department of Defense in March, examining whether it violates Malaysian policies. Attendees will include the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Lynas, and environmental groups, and the conclusions will be submitted to the government as a basis for national rare earth policy formulation. France’s Carester and Malaysia’s Malaco Mining signed a 10-year strategic cooperation agreement to establish a joint venture rare earth separation plant in Perak with an annual processing capacity of approximately 13,000 tonnes, marking the first large-scale investment by a European rare earth enterprise in Malaysia. Australia’s Hastings Technology Metals expanded plans for its Kabin Buri plant in Thailand, raising the capacity from the original 6,000 mt/year of mixed rare earth concentrates to 12,000 mt/year, with a further expansion to 36,000 mt/year by Q4 2028. The feedstock will be African monazite, with first production expected in Q1 2027, using a hydrochloric acid process to produce mixed rare earth chlorides, backed by the US-Thailand rare earth supply chain MOA signed in October 2025. On July 14, Hastings released an updated definitive feasibility study for its Western Australia Yangibana rare earth joint venture project (40% interest, Wyloo 60%), confirming a 37,000 mt/year rare earth concentrate capacity with 27% TREO. On the same day, Wyloo expressed its intention to sell its 60% stake, with multiple interested parties at home and abroad. In March, Hastings acquired a 49% stake in Singapore’s Enuo Holdings to cooperate on testing Australian ore sources, and it is also wholly developing the Brockman heavy rare earth and niobium project in Western Australia.
Latin American Resource Upgrades and Russia-India Technology Cooperation
In Brazil, Meteoric Resources and Viridis Mining & Minerals simultaneously announced resource upgrades to “measured” status: Viridis’ Colossus project reported measured ore resources of 31 million tonnes at 0.2858% TREO and 0.0758% MREO, with total ore resources of 473 million tonnes at 0.2505% TREO and 0.0592% MREO. The previous report in January had total resources of 493 million tonnes at 0.2508% TREO and 0.0601% MREO, including measured resources of 700,000 tonnes at 0.2605% TREO and 0.0603% MREO. India’s Nexon Geochem and Russia’s Giredmet (State Research and Design Institute of Rare Metal Industry) signed an MOA to jointly develop deep processing technologies for rare earths and rare metals and NdFeB permanent magnet technology, aiming to establish an integrated “oxide-to-magnet” platform. NdFeB permanent magnets are key components for direct-drive generators in offshore wind power and traction motors in hybrid and electric vehicles.
![Rare Earth Prices Edge Down, Market Inquiry Activities Decline [SMM Rare Earth Daily Review]](https://imgqn.smm.cn/usercenter/vpWKL20251217171743.jpeg)
![[SMM Rare Earth Morning Briefing] Rare earth market trading is in a stalemate, but cost support remains, oxides diverge, and scrap follows with limited gains.](https://imgqn.smm.cn/usercenter/UXEpx20251217171743.jpeg)
