Prices outside China remained stable across the board this week, and India and Japan accelerated the construction of the rare earth industry chain this week [SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review]

Overseas Market Dynamics

Prices:

Rare Earth Oxides: Cerium oxide FOB was quoted at $2,094-2,178/mt, remaining stable for now; cerium oxide CIF (Rotterdam port) was quoted at $2,827-2,837/mt, remaining stable for now; lanthanum oxide FOB was quoted at $1,023-1,083/mt, remaining stable for now. Praseodymium oxide FOB was quoted at $120-124/kg, neodymium oxide FOB at $155-187/kg, and neodymium oxide CIF (Rotterdam port) at $235-255/kg, remaining stable for now. Dysprosium oxide FOB was quoted at $254-308/kg, and terbium oxide FOB at $1,103-1,191/kg, remaining stable for now.

Rare Earth Metals: Praseodymium metal FOB was quoted at $156-164/kg, neodymium metal FOB at $145-165/kg, and terbium metal FOB at $1,391-1,475/kg, remaining stable for now. Yttrium metal FOB was quoted at $33-38/kg, and lanthanum metal FOB at $3-3.1/kg, overall stable.

Transactions: Export and overseas prices remained stable for now this week. The slight adjustment in domestic prices had yet to have a significant impact on overseas prices. In terms of transactions, overseas deliveries continued to shrink this week, and trading volumes were relatively small.

Resources and Project Progress

India's Mecwin Technologies signed an MoU with Germany's Fraunhofer IWKS to jointly develop sintered NdFeB permanent magnets. Mecwin will build a plant in India covering the entire process including alloy preparation, continuous casting and rolling, hydrogen decrepitation, jet milling, magnetic field orientation, vacuum sintering, heat treatment, machining, coating, magnetization, and quality detection. The cooperation covers process optimization, technical training, and commissioning support. The MoU is non-exclusive. The Swedish government granted Canada's Leading Edge Materials a 25-year lease for the Norra Kärr rare earth mine in the south. A GSS study confirmed the deposit as one of Europe's richest rare earth deposits, with a notable proportion of heavy rare earths terbium, dysprosium, and yttrium. London-listed Kendrick Resources released pXRF screening results for the Kieshoehe project in the Bonya area of Namibia: All seven historically unassayed drill holes encountered mineralization, with an average depth exceeding 85 meters, an average TREO grade of 1.51%, and a peak 1-meter interval of 5.46%. Mineralization remains open at depth, extending into carbonatite at the hole ends. ASX-listed Heavy Rare Earths initiated a strategic review of its Cowalinya rare earth project in Western Australia, focusing on heavy rare earth oxides (HREO). The company has assigned a dedicated rare earth geologist to advance the work.

Smelting, Manufacturing, and Capacity Layout

Iluka obtained a A$1.65 billion non-recourse loan from Australia's Export Finance and Insurance Corporation for the construction of the Eneabba rare earth refinery in Western Australia. The project is currently over 50% complete and is expected to reach 75% completion by the end of 2026. Civmec was awarded the mechanical, electrical, and instrumentation contract. Separately, Iluka signed a four-year binding offtake agreement for magnetic rare earth oxides with an unnamed global automaker, covering approximately 10% of planned production and expected to generate a minimum revenue of $155 million. Arnold Magnetic Technologies announced a multi-million dollar investment to expand its facility in Amata City, Chonburi, Thailand, to increase permanent magnet capacity to serve customers in the Asia-Pacific and Europe. Momentum Technologies of Carrollton, Texas, produced one of the highest-purity rare earth products reported to date at its demonstration plant. Having already achieved commercial-grade battery material purity from black mass, it has become one of the few US enterprises capable of refining rare earths and battery metals from both raw ore and end-of-life materials to commercially relevant purities.

Equipment and Recycling

Japan's ULVAC expects orders for its continuous vacuum melting furnace dedicated to rare earth magnets to rise about threefold YoY, primarily driven by demand from magnetic material producers in Europe and the US. It will establish a new production system in Japan, forming a dual-base supply structure with its existing plant in China. Western Digital, in partnership with Microsoft, Critical Materials Recycling, and PedalPoint, completed a pilot processing approximately 50,000 pounds of shredded end-of-life hard disk drives. The non-acid chemical extraction method recovered rare earth oxides, as well as gold, copper, aluminum, and steel, intended to be promoted as a blueprint for a US HDD recycling network.

Cross-Border Industrial and Economic Cooperation

Canadian International Trade Minister Sidhu led a delegation of nearly 300 representatives to Japan. Canada and Japan are negotiating cooperation on critical minerals, covering joint mining of graphite, gallium, and others, offtake agreements, and possible joint stockpiling. Sidhu cited the Nouveau Monde Graphite-Panasonic graphite offtake as an example and mentioned Mitsubishi's interest in expanding its investment in Canada (the British Columbia LNG project). The visit also covered energy cooperation topics.