Metallization is the missing middle of the rare-earth magnet supply chain. Learn which Western players are closing the gap between oxide and magnet production.
Country Profile
Germany
Country
Overview
About Germany
Germany has no operating rare-earth mine, yet its car industry depends on rare-earth magnets for parts such as windshield-wiper motors and brake sensors. That exposure turned concrete when Chinese export licensing slowed magnet shipments. The VDA, the German auto industry association, warned that unless the situation changed quickly, production delays and even outages could no longer be ruled out.
Supply depends on imports. Part of it arrives from processors in Austria and Estonia, and German trade statistics cannot show where that material was originally sourced.
The domestic industry sits in magnets and recycling. Vacuumschmelze, headquartered in Hanau, makes NdFeB and samarium-cobalt magnets there and at plants elsewhere in Europe and in the United States. Remloy's plant in Bitterfeld melts end-of-life magnets into NdFeB alloy powder, and HyProMag GmbH has opened a magnet recycling and manufacturing plant in Pforzheim.
The Storkwitz deposit in Saxony is a buried carbonatite known only from drill holes. By its license holder's figures, its rare-earth content is mostly cerium and lanthanum, with a smaller neodymium-praseodymium share. Whether recycled feed and Berlin-backed projects overseas can supply German magnet makers without material that passes through China remains open.
Mine Production & Reserves
Policy & Regulation
Rare Earth Elements
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REEx Intelligence
Recent Articles
Lockheed Martin faces a 2027 DFARS deadline requiring rare-earth magnet provenance traced to the mine, risking F-35, THAAD, and Javelin production timelines.
Global wind capacity hit 1,299 GW in 2025, but China controls 90% of NdFeB magnet production—threatening a $6.5 trillion downstream supply chain.
Industrial robots rely on NdFeB permanent magnets, but China's 2025 export controls and supply chain gaps put U.S. manufacturers at strategic risk.
Researchers argue the Lobito Corridor should anchor African copper processing, not just transport—closing the gap between 17% production and 9% refined output.
China's rare earth magnet exports to Japan fell 17% in August, part of a multi-material decline signaling Beijing's export controls as a foreign-policy tool.
A 2015 ZEW study finds China's rare earth export restrictions were designed to pull downstream industries into China, creating durable ecosystem advantage.
China supplies 85% of U.S. magnet imports, but embedded magnets in EVs, drones and motors make true dependence far larger than customs data reveal.
Baotou Steel deepens Sino-German rare-earth motor R&D, appointing Xie Wei chief scientist as collaboration extends from magnets to advanced electric-drive
Baogang Group hosted a China-Germany workshop in Baotou on rare-earth permanent magnets and electric-drive systems, signaling China's push to dominate
Schaeffler's Hungary plant recovers intact NdFeB magnets from defective rotors for direct reuse, bypassing costly rare-earth refining stages entirely.
Arafura Rare Earths has secured financing and offtake for Nolans, yet trades at half its modeled NPV. Is the market mispricing a de-risked ex-China oxide
Surging global bond yields are raising borrowing costs just as Western nations need billions to build rare earth mine-to-magnet supply chains.
Mkango Resources has built a circular rare earth platform across four countries, but commercial-scale throughput remains the critical unproven test for
Mkango Resources acquires German recycler Remloy for $9.3M, adding NdFeB alloy recycling capacity and three distinct rare earth recycling loops across Europe.
BASF, Bayer and Bosch are deepening China manufacturing under a local-for-local model, raising supply chain dependence risks for Europe's critical
Fraunhofer researchers show cerium substitution via a two-powder method boosts NdFeB magnet performance, potentially reducing NdPr demand and raw-material
China's decades-long control of rare earths, batteries, and magnets is now reshaping global auto markets—and Western tariffs can't fix the supply chain
The U.S. produced only ~300 tonnes of NdFeB magnets in 2025 against 48,000 tonnes of demand. REEx projects 10% global share won't arrive until 2031–33.
India's 2026 MMDR amendment caps state mineral levies to attract mining capital, but constitutional risks and missing midstream capacity limit its impact.
China controls 94% of sintered magnet production while Western challengers like MP Materials, Neo, and Niron Magnetics post real financing and factory
30-year Treasury yields hit 5.34%, a 19-year high, raising borrowing costs for rare earth mines, refineries, and critical mineral supply chains across the West.
Over 50 traders control billions in critical mineral flows with no public exchange. REEx reveals who shapes supply, pricing, and project finance behind
Deutsche Bank becomes Europe's first foreign RMB clearing bank, deepening China's financial reach into critical minerals and strategic commodity markets.
Energy Fuels clears a major hurdle as 98.23% of ASM shareholders approve its acquisition, adding a rare-earth metals and alloy plant in South Korea to its
China's 2025 rare-earth export controls triggered uneven price shocks across seven major economies, with dependence on Chinese supply failing to predict
The U.S. is financing a rare earth supply chain faster than it can build one—REEx forecasts meaningful mine-to-magnet scale by 2029–2030, not 2027.
China's CREIA surveys Zhejiang permanent magnet motor makers, finding high NdFeB prices are slowing commercialization and revealing China's coordinated
Hades Resources secures Germany's only known rare earth deposit license at Storkwitz, but no compliant resource exists yet—commercial production remains
Rare earth purity alone doesn't guarantee performance. Crystal structure, grain morphology, and process history define true commercial value in advanced
Mitsuba ships ferrite-based sunroof motors to German luxury automakers, signaling demand optimization—not destruction—of rare earth magnets in supply chains.
Mitsubishi Materials invests €50M to expand tungsten recycling in Germany, reducing Europe's dependence on China-dominated primary supply chains.
A U.S. official's reported 'blank check' for critical minerals signals the rare earth magnet race has entered a new great powers era of strategic competition.
Mkango's HyProMag USA plans a Texas magnet-finishing line by 2027 using imported blocks, but a truly domestic U.S. rare earth magnet supply chain remains
China's export controls target European defense firms, exposing the real strategic choke point: rare earth processing, alloys, and magnet
In H1 2026, major traders like Traxys, Mercuria, and Sojitz reshaped rare earth supply chains through offtakes, reserves, and state-backed deals amid
Germany may impose conditions on Energy Fuels' $1.9B acquisition of VAC, signaling permanent magnet makers are now treated as sovereign strategic assets.
Energy Fuels may be 43% undervalued, but building a viable Western rare earth supply chain involves feedstock, scale-up, and integration risks investors
The West is scaling drone production fast, but permanent magnet supply outside China remains the critical bottleneck investors must watch closely.
