Highlights

• North America leads with concrete midstream infrastructure:
  • REAlloys expands Saskatchewan refining capacity 300% for heavy REEs
  • HyProMag opens Texas magnet recycling hub
  • Multiple DOE-backed extraction projects target 2026-2027 commissioning
• Australia builds critical processing infrastructure with ANSTO's first open-access clay-hosted rare earth facility launching in 2026
• Brazil attracts upstream deals and Vietnam tightens export rules to capture domestic value
• China's export controls create massive price gaps:
  • Dysprosium oxide at $900/kg ex-China vs $255/kg domestically
  • Driving Western buyers toward long-term offtakes, cost-plus agreements, and security-premium pricing structures

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This week made one thing unmistakable: ex-China rare earth supply chains are shifting from strategy memos to physical assets—leases, pilot plants, refinery expansions, and government-backed R&D—while China-linked constraints keep pushing buyers toward long-term offtakes and security-premium pricing. A reminder to all that China still controls 80%+ of rare earth refining and 90%+ of magnets worldwide.  While the ex-China rare earth supply chain emerges, we are in the first inning of a nine-inning game.

North America

United States

Downstream / magnets (recycling + manufacturing)

HyProMag USA signed a long-term lease for a Dallas–Fort Worth rare-earth magnet recycling and manufacturing hub (opens in a new tab). The project uses HPMS (Hydrogen Processing of Magnet Scrap) technology, targets mid-2027 commissioning (subject to permitting/financing), and projects ~90–100 jobs—a practical step toward a circular, domestic magnet supply.

Midstream-adjacent / new extraction pathway

Phoenix Tailings was selected for $1.6M in DOE ARPA-E funding to develop ligand-based extraction of critical minerals (including rare earths) from wastewater/brines/industrial streams—an unconventional “mine-less” supply concept with real federal backing. Rare Earth Exchanges posts the interview with Phoenix Tailings CEO and co-founder Nick Myers (opens in a new tab). Myers and his team are impressive, and this upstart declares they can refine 200 tons of rare earth elements, with thousands within reach. ReElement Technologies (opens in a new tab) too has secured federal loans in its partnership with Vulcan Elements to develop a recycling/feedstock refining and recycling to magnet ecosystem. Ditto USA Rare Earth (opens in a new tab) which this week announced they would accelerate (opens in a new tab) their push to market within two years.

Midstream / heavy REE separation

Ucore Rare Metals (opens in a new tab) reiterated its commercialization push for heavy rare earth processing in Louisiana in 2026, leveraging its $22.4M DoD agreement and reporting ~5,700 operating hours in Ontario RapidSX™ demonstration work. The strategic logic is strong; execution still hinges on scale-up discipline and feedstock certainty.

Downstream vertical / turbine materials

GE Vernova disclosed (opens in a new tab) it is working with the U.S. government to boost stockpiles of yttrium—a rare earth used in certain high-temperature materials—after China-linked restrictions tightened supply and drove dramatic ex-China price spikes. This is a notable “industrial end-user plus government” supply-security move, not just a mining story.

Canada

Midstream / heavy REE refining + offtake

REAlloys Inc. entered a major partnership (opens in a new tab) with the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) to expand the Saskatoon facility. REAlloys will invest ~US$21M, expand Dy/Tb capacity ~300%, increase NdPr capacity ~50%, and secure 80% of annual production via a long-term cost-plus offtake. Target is early 2027 operations, designed to produce up to ~30 t/y Dy oxide and ~15 t/y Tb oxide, plus NdPr metal volumes. This is one of the week’s most concrete “midstream buildout” announcements in North America.

Europe

Policy-to-capital signal

The EU’s RESourceEU (opens in a new tab) push moved closer to implementation, framing €3B in support for strategic raw-material projects and floating the idea of restricting exports of critical-mineral-bearing scrap starting in 2026. Europe is trying to keep value (and feedstock) inside its borders—but the region still struggles to match the velocity and subsidy intensity of U.S. industrial policy.

We hear reports that the Europeans are losing deals to the Americans in Brazil for access to future feedstock. Rare Earth Exchanges predicts the EU will get more aggressive about rare earth and critical mineral industrial policy.

At present, the Americans are beating them badly. Although we believe industrial policy is not near where it needs to be in America, under President Trump, the nascent American rare earth supply chain is significantly ahead of Europe. But don’t count the Europeans out yet.

Australia

Australia delivered the week’s clearest “missing link” move—processing infrastructure for clay-hosted rare earths.

Midstream/refinery access (clay REEs)

ANSTO is constructing Australia’s first open-access rare earth processing facility for clay-hosted deposits, scheduled for 2026. Instead of every junior building a bespoke pilot plant, this facility is designed as shared national infrastructure for hydromet testwork—a serious attempt to reduce Australia’s dependency on China-dominated midstream processing. Rare Earth Exchanges has been in touch with ANSTO and will have updated information.

First test case (but not yet a mine)

Australian Rare Earths (AR3) and its Koppamurra ionic adsorption clay project are positioned as the inaugural user. However, the project is still early-stage and faces landholder opposition and licensing gaps—a reminder that processing capability can arrive before social license and permitting do.

(Separate from this week’s ANSTO announcement, Lynas’s Malaysia heavy-REE progress remains part of the broader ex-China supply narrative—but the ANSTO facility is the fresh, week-dated Australian processing development.) MP Materials has multiple refining initiatives, including $150 million from the feds to advance heavy rare earth refining capacity. Note that constant industry chatter suggests MP’s feedstock for heavies can be a challenge, but the company is on record that this will be secured.

Latin America

Brazil deal flow

Brazil continued attracting upstream optionality. Power Minerals (opens in a new tab) completed the acquisition of the Santa Ana carbonatite rare earth project, and Core Energy Minerals signed a binding agreement to acquire Itambé in Bahia. These are early-stage moves, but they show juniors racing to assemble future feedstock inventory outside China.

Rare Earth Exchanges hears of rumblings where Americans are beating out Europeans to secure Brazil-based future feedstock. But more to come.

Chile watch

Aclara’s Penco continued drawing external attention (including European interest). No major new transaction landed this week, but “ionic clays” remain a strategic theme for non-Chinese supply. Aclara is owned by two corporate mining-related companies and has a refining pilot at Virginia Tech. Assuming that the pilot goes well, Aclara is looking at a commercial refinery in Louisiana, as Rare Earth Exchanges reported last month.

Middle East & North Africa

Saudi vertical ambition

Saudi Arabia continued positioning for mining-to-industry scale, including collaboration signaling with MPMaterials as part of its broader critical-mineral industrial strategy and sovereign-backed investment posture. A few weeks ago, Rare Earth Exchanges reported that the US government (Pentagon), Saudi state-owned Maaden, and MP agreed to develop a refinery in Saudi Arabia.

Malaysia / Japan link

Malaysia’s cooperation with Japan’s JOGMEC advanced the exploration-and-processing agenda in parallel with Lynas’s regional role—another indicator that Southeast Asia is becoming a serious chessboard for ex-China supply development.  Malaysia emerges as a key contested land between, on the one hand, China and, on the other hand, the United States.

This past week, Rare Earth Exchanges showcased Malaysia’s primary mine, Southern Alliance Mining, or “SAM.” See “SAM is the Place to Be: Malaysia’s Rising Rare Earth Player.”  Firms such as DTEC MMT include at least partial American ownership and are sourcing deals in the Southeast Asian nation.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Geopolitical de-risking (early, but meaningful)

The DRC–Rwanda peace dynamic continued improving investor optics for Central Africa’s broader minerals pipeline (including potential heavy-REE zones). President Trump deserves credit for supporting peace effort.  No major signed JV popped this week, but the direction matters for future project financing.

Project progress (watch list)

Several African rare earth stories remain in “advance and finance” mode rather than deal-closure mode this week—especially Malawi, Tanzania, and South Africa (including Rainbow Rare Earths’ Phalaborwa tailings pathway).

Pensana announced (opens in a new tab) a US$100 million strategic equity investment, alongside a smaller US$3 million institutional raise, to advance its U.S. Mine-to-Magnet strategy centered on the Longonjo rare earth project in Angola.

The funding supports mine development ahead of impending U.S. defense sourcing bans and China-related tariffs, expands drilling and co-product development (including heavy REEs), and underpins a planned Nasdaq listing in 2026, with Longonjo targeting production from 2027 as a major global supplier of magnet materials.

Lindian Resources (opens in a new tab) accelerated progress on its flagship Kangankunde Rare Earths Project in Malawi this week by completing the final payment to secure 100% ownership of the deposit, reinforcing its control over what is claimed to be one of the world’s largest high-grade rare earth resources.

The company also secured an A$5 million underwriting agreement to support options conversion and strengthen its balance sheet, issued new shares following option conversions, and awarded key non-process infrastructure contracts to clear the way for full-scale construction.

In addition, Lindian has commenced focused drilling at the North Knoll high-grade target, aimed at expanding resource feed for early mining stages. These moves consolidate funding, ownership, and operational momentum as Lindian advances toward initial rare earth production targeted for late 2026 outside of Chinese supply chains

Asia (Non-China)

Vietnam changes the rules

Vietnam’s parliament approved revisions tightening export pathways and reaffirming restrictions around ore exports, explicitly pushing domestic processing and value-chain buildout.

The policy intent is clear: Vietnam wants to be more than a raw-material appendage—but the near-term constraint remains limited refining infrastructure. But make no mistake, up-and-coming nations seek to monetize their assets more than they have in the past, when European or North American corporations could exploit such resources, leaving less to the home nation.

India (implementation mode)

India’s ₹72.8B (~$816M) rare-earth permanent magnet program continued moving into execution planning. This is less a “deal” than a government-driven industrial buildout that will shape downstream offtake demand for NdPr (and, indirectly, heavy-REE additives).

Rare Earth Exchanges suggests investors keep a close eye on the rare earth space in what is now the most populous nation and arguably the fourth-largest economy in the world.

China: Market and Pricing Signals

China’s controls continue to ripple outward. Reuters reporting this cycle captured how ex-China heavies are pricing like a strategic material, not a commodity: dysprosium oxide ~ $900/kg in Rotterdam vs ~$255/kg inside China, reflecting scarcity and a security premium. That gap is a major reason why cost-plus offtakes, take-or-pay terms, and government-backed de-risking keep showing up in new Western supply-chain structures. Rare Earth Exchanges finding rare earth element (NdPr) related magnets can be up to several times pricier ex-China based on a few data points. But we are collecting more data for more systematic and scientific accuracy.

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