Highlights

• U.S. and allies are accelerating rare earth magnet recycling, mining, and processing projects with major financing deals:
  • USSM-Ionic's Missouri facility
  • MP Materials' $150M DoD-backed heavy rare earth refinery
  • Tactical Resources' $140M Texas project
• These efforts aim to build ex-China supply chains ahead of 2027 defense procurement deadlines.
• A two-tier global market is emerging:
  • Western buyers pay 15-30% premiums for non-Chinese rare earths with protective contract terms
  • China maintains lower domestic prices, raising concerns about the long-term economic viability of ex-China ventures without sustained government support
• Cross-border partnerships are proliferating across continents:
  • Solvay is supplying U.S. magnet makers
  • Japan's Marubeni investing in Australian projects.
  • India is tripling magnet manufacturing incentives to $788M
• Nations coordinate to reduce dependence on Chinese-controlled rare earth materials.
  

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North America

U.S.–Australia Recycling Tie-Up

US Strategic Metals (USSM) signed an MoU (opens in a new tab) with Australia’s Ionic Rare Earths to develop a rare-earth magnet recycling and processing facility at USSM’s site in Missouri. Ionic will deploy its patented NdFeB magnet recycling technology to produce neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) and heavy rare earth oxides from scrap magnets in the U.S., bolstering a sustainable ex-China supply chain.

On the all-important heavies

Note Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx) hears that heavy rare earths (terbium, dysprosium, etc.) are very much still in short supply.  MP Materials, the U.S.’s leading rare earth miner, aims to commission its heavy rare earth (HREE) refinery by mid-2026, targeting production of 200 metric tons of dysprosium and terbium annually—key for magnet performance in defense, EVs, and renewables.

Backed by a $150M Department of Defense loan and 15% DoD equity stake, MP purports to have stockpiled over 200 tons of its high-value SEG+ feedstock and is planning to integrate third-party sources and Apple-linked recycled material into its supply. While this builds toward a fully domestic,closed-loop mine-to-magnet chain, significant questions remain about timeline feasibility and Dy/Tb separation at scale. We recently reported that Missouri’s Pea Ridge Mine could offer critical backup feedstock if permitted and developed in time.

Execution risks remain, but MP’s progress and partnerships signal serious momentum toward rare earth independence—but will it be before the Department of Defense's Jan 2027 no-China magnet rule kicks in?  Our network chatter suggests the bureaucracy within the federal government (e.g., Department of Defense) is not too concerned and will merely make moves to push out that date.  We could be wrong, but….

Texas Rare Earth Financing

Vancouver-based Tactical Resources secured a $140 million financing package (opens in a new tab) (a $40 million convertible debt facility plus a $100 million standby equity purchase agreement) to fast-track its Texas rare earth project via a merger with Plum Acquisition Corp (opens in a new tab).

The funding will help turn a large rare-earth-rich tailings stockpile into production, positioning Tactical as potentially the second at-scale U.S. REE supplier by leveraging existing tailings to shorten the typical mine development timeline.

South America

Brazil Project Backing

No new rare earth deals were announced in South America during the week of Nov 10–14. Notably, earlier in November, the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. approved up to $465 million in financing to expand Brazil’s Serra Verde rare-earth mine, as reported via REEx last week, underlining ongoing support for non-Chinese supply chains in the region.

Europe

European Processing Deals

Belgium’s Solvay inked supply agreements to provide rare earth oxides to two U.S. magnet manufacturers – Noveon Magnetics and Permag. The Solvay–Noveon deal covers neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium oxides (NdPr and Dy/Tb, key inputs for NdFeB magnets), while the Permag deal will supply samarium oxide (for Sm–Co high-temperature magnets) to be converted into metal by Britain’s Less Common Metals (now acquired by USA Rare Earth). These contracts support Solvay’s rare-earth separation plant ramp-up in France as Europe and the U.S. work to cut dependence on Chinese magnet materials.

Asia-Pacific (Japan & India)

Japan–Australia Investment

Marubeni Corporation (Japan) agreed to invest A$15 million (opens in a new tab) for up to a 5% equity stake in RZ Resources, advancing an Australian heavy mineral sands project that produces monazite (a rare-earth-bearing mineral). The project will supply critical minerals, including rare earths, for the permanent magnet industry; it has already received a letter of interest for financing support from U.S. EXIM Bank and a support letter from Export Finance Australia, reflecting government backing for diversified non-Chinese supply chains. As mentioned this week, Lynas Rare Earths commenced exports of processed heavy rare earths to Japan’s trading juggernaut Sojitz. See REEx.

India Magnet Incentives

India is moving to nearly triple funding for its rare-earth magnet manufacturing incentive program to ₹70 billion (≈$788 million) per REEx. This expanded scheme aims to entice global magnet producers to set up domestic factories and cut reliance on imported Chinese magnets, aligning with India’s broader critical minerals strategy.

China

Export Controls in Flux

As REEx has chronicled, China temporarily suspended new rare-earth export controls for one year following a recent U.S.–China summit, and Beijing is drafting “general” one-year export licenses to ease the shipment of critical minerals to allies.   However, core restrictions remain in place – heavy rare-earth elements and finished magnet alloys are still tightly controlled, and as of mid-November, the two sides had yet to agree on the details of the export-license plan. As delineated by experts in the field, China can at any time revert to a more stringent set of rules.

Africa

African Developments

No major new deals were finalized in Africa this week, but progress continues on key projects. In Angola, Pensana’s Longonjo rare earth mine moved closer to securing a $160 million loan from the U.S. EXIM Bank (letter of interest issued) to finance mine construction. This U.S.-backed funding would anchor a mine-to-magnet supply chain with ore from Angola processed at Pensana’s UK refinery and feeding Vacuumschmelze’s magnet plant in the U.S. Meanwhile, in Kenya, the massive Mrima Hill rare earth deposit (estimated at ~$62 billion in minerals) is drawingintense global attention from Western and Chinese parties –though no extraction deal has been struck yet, given local sensitivities around that site.

Market & Contract Trends

Ex-China Pricing Premiums

Western buyers are paying 15–30% above China’s prices for rare earths sourced outside of China. To underpin new projects, long-term offtake contracts now often include protective terms like floor prices (for example, ~$110/kg for NdPr oxide in a recent U.S. defense contract – roughly double the Chinese price) and take-or-pay commitments, ensuring producers a stable margin against potential Chinese price undercutting.

REEx sees storm clouds on the horizon for the ex-China rare earth market. The cozy alliance between the Department of Defense and MP Materials may be the exception, not the rule—and that’s a problem. Without similar lifelines extended to the broader constellation of U.S. mine-to-magnet ventures, we risk watching the sector wither just as it begins to bloom.

China isn’t waiting. It’s scaling capacity with ruthless efficiency. Unless the playing field is leveled, we may soon find that only the most heavily subsidized players can stay afloat in an ex-China market where price points defy commercial gravity. That’s not a free market or the result of sound industrial policy—it’s a fragile façade. And it could crack within two years.

Two-Tier Market Emerging

The global rare earth market is increasingly split in two. Within China, prices remain lower under Beijing’s firm grip on refining and magnet production. Outside China, supply security carries a premium: allied governments are underwriting mines, separation plants, and magnet facilities, while industrial buyers pay more for assured access.

This is reinforcing a dual-track rare earth economy—where non-Chinese materials fetch higher prices in exchange for reduced geopolitical exposure. But a warning light is flashing: the widening price gap risks undermining the economic viability of ex-China rare earth ventures across the supply chain. If left unchecked, this divergence could jeopardize long-term upstream, midstream, and downstream development.