Finland Rare Earth Project Surges to 15.4Mt Resource

Iran’s armed forces announced on the 11th that the Strait of Hormuz is closed to all vessels effective immediately, and any unauthorized passage will be targeted. According to multiple Iranian media reports, the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters of Iran’s armed forces issued a statement in the early hours of the 11th, saying that due to regional instability, the Strait of Hormuz is closed to all vessels effective immediately, including oil tankers and merchant ships, and any unauthorized passage will be targeted. Iran also dismissed US claims regarding ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

South Korea will launch a national R&D project to reuse fuel cells and rare earth permanent magnets recovered from scrapped hydrogen vehicles. The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment and the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute announced on June 8 that they will begin a national R&D project to safely dismantle end-of-life hydrogen vehicles and reuse or recycle their key components. The ministry will invest KRW 40.8 billion from this year through 2029 to develop technologies in three major areas: safe removal of residual hydrogen and dismantling of key components; development of power generation systems using reused hydrogen storage tanks and fuel cells; and recovery of permanent magnets from end-of-life drive motors and conversion into high-purity rare earth materials.

[SMM Rare Earth Magnetic Materials Newsflash] Recently, CAAM released data showing that China's NEV production in May 2026 reached 1.554 million units, while total automobile production reached 2.616 million units. Based on the SMM survey and model, NdFeB demand from NEVs in China was 6,641.1 mt in May 2026, and total NdFeB consumption in the automotive industry was 6,945.8 mt, up 18.8% YoY. As of now, the automotive sector remains the largest NdFeB consumer, and its share of total consumption is expected to be approximately 30% in 2026.