Highlights
- Ghosh's preprint reveals India's near-total reliance on Chinese rare earth element imports, proposing a four-pillar Mine-to-Magnet strategy to secure strategic mineral autonomy.
- The study highlights critical challenges in rare earth element processing, emphasizing:
- Domestic exploration
- Green R&D
- Overseas acquisitions
- Circular economy approaches
- By 2035, the roadmap aims to transform India's rare earth mineral vulnerability into a platform for industrial self-reliance through synchronized upstream, midstream, and recycling strategies.
A June 2025 preprint by Debi Prasad Ghosh, PhD (opens in a new tab), of Larsen & Toubro Construction (opens in a new tab), Mine-to-Magnet (M2M): A Strategic Roadmap for India’s Dysprosium- and Terbium-Centric Supply-Chain Security (ResearchGate, June 2025), delivers a comprehensive blueprint for securing two of the most critical heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) for India’s defence, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing ambitions. Dysprosium (Dy) and Terbium (Tb) are indispensable for high-temperature Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets and the magnetostrictive alloy Terfenol-D—materials essential to missile actuators, EV motors, and direct-drive wind turbines.
Key Findings
The study underscores India’s near-total reliance on imports from China, which controls about 99% of global Dy/Tb processing capacity. Beijing’s April 2025 export-licensing regime for HREEs has sharply raised supply disruption risks, already impacting Indian automakers and defence contractors. Domestically, India holds the world’s fifth-largest rare earth reserves but lacks extractable Dy/Tb in commercial quantities and has no industrial-scale HREE separation, alloying, or magnet manufacturing capabilities.
The Author
Ghosh proposes an integrated four-pillar M2M strategy:
| # | Pillar | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Targeted Domestic Exploration & Processing Parks | Intensive prospecting for Dy/Tb-rich deposits, supported by de-risked REE processing parks with shared waste management and compliance infrastructure. |
| 2 | Mission-Mode Green R&D | Focus on environmentally sustainable separation, alloying, and advanced magnet manufacturing technologies, with strong public-private partnerships to bridge lab-to-commercial gaps. |
| 3 | Strategic Overseas Acquisitions & Processing Alliances | Empowering KABIL to secure equity in HREE-rich mines abroad and forge technology-transfer partnerships for processing capacity. |
| 4 | Circular Economy & Urban Mining | Establishing large-scale e-waste recovery systems for HREEs, backed by an Extended Producer Responsibility framework to ensure a steady recycling feedstock |
Implications
For policymakers, the roadmap reframes Dy/Tb access as a strategic autonomy issue, not just a trade challenge. Without rapid capability building, India’s defence readiness, EV deployment targets, and renewable energy goals risk severe delays. For investors, the report signals opportunities in HREE exploration, processing infrastructure, recycling technologies, and joint ventures with overseas producers. Internationally, the study reinforces India’s need to leverage platforms like the Minerals Security Partnership and QUAD for both upstream resource access and midstream technology transfer.
Limitations
The work is a strategic and policy-focused preprint, not a quantitative market model. It assumes political will, financing, and international cooperation that may not materialize at scale. The absence of detailed costings, implementation timelines, and risk-weighted scenario modelling means execution challenges are underexplored. Additionally, success in domestic extraction hinges on resolving India’s “extractability paradox”—currently unproven Dy/Tb yield from known reserves.
Conclusion
Ghosh’s M2M framework offers a coherent, multi-front plan to turn India’s most acute critical mineral vulnerability into a platform for industrial self-reliance by 2035. Its emphasis on synchronized upstream, midstream, and recycling strategies aligns with global moves to de-risk rare earth supply chains, but timely implementation and targeted technology acquisition will determine whether India can truly close the loop from mine to magnet.
Citation: Ghosh, D. P. (2025). Mine-to-Magnet (M2M): A Strategic Roadmap for India’s Dysprosium- and Terbium-Centric Supply-Chain Security. Preprint. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.10405.82402 (opens in a new tab)
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