The Heavy Rare Earth Map Is Full: The Supply Chain Is Nearly Empty

Highlights

• Heavy rare earth deposits exist on six continents, but commercial dysprosium and terbium supply remains concentrated in China and Myanmar
• Brazil's Pela Ema is the only scaled ionic-clay producer outside Asia, making it the strongest emerging challenger
• Most global projects lack credible metallurgy, permits, or financing—announced capacity is not the same as actual production
• REEx global survey ranks asset maturity, development timelines, and investor risk across the heavy rare earth landscape

Heavy rare earth deposits appear across six continents. Commercial dysprosium and terbium supply does not. China and Myanmar still dominate the industrial clock, while Brazil’s Pela Ema remains the only scaled ionic-clay producer outside Asia.

The new Rare Earth Exchanges® global survey moves past headline tonnage to ask what investors actually need to know: Which assets are producing? Which have credible metallurgy, permits, and financing? Which remain years—and potentially billions of dollars—away from qualified supply?

The rankings expose a market crowded with geological promise but starved of deliverable material. Brazil is emerging as the strongest challenger. Australia has credible projects and processing capability. North America and Europe hold strategic deposits. Yet mixed concentrate is not separated oxide, announced capacity is not production, and ore in the ground is not a magnet supply chain.

Which projects can truly weaken China’s control—and which are selling investors an industrial future that may never arrive?

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