Highlights
- China controls 60-70% of global rare earth mining and over 85% of processing capacity.
- Key operations like the Bayan Obo mine lead in production.
- Emerging rare earth projects worldwide aim to diversify global supply.
- Notable developments in Australia, Canada, US, and Estonia target commercial production by 2025-2027.
- Major companies like Lynas, MP Materials, and Arafura Rare Earths are expanding rare earth extraction and processing capabilities to reduce dependence on Chinese supply.
China remains the global heavyweight in rare earth element (REE) production, responsible for around 60–70% of global mining and over 85% of processing capacity. Its crown jewel is the Bayan Obo mine in Inner Mongolia, operated by Baotou Steel Rare Earth Group (opens in a new tab). This massive open-pit operation is the world’s largest, rare earth mine, delivering large volumes of light REEs such as neodymium, praseodymium, and lanthanum, supported by integrated refining infrastructure across Inner Mongolia and southern China. In the south, China Southern Rare Earth Group (opens in a new tab) oversees ionic clay deposits across Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Fujian, critical for supplying heavy REEs like dysprosium and terbium. These clays are leached in situ and represent a more environmentally sensitive, though vital, extraction method. Also significant is the Maoniuping Mine in Sichuan Province, operated by China Minmetals Rare Earth Co (opens in a new tab)., tapping both light and heavy REE-bearing carbonatites.
The list is not exhaustive but offers an overview of key activities worldwide. Rare Earth Exchanges is completing its “Projects” directory, which is part of Rare Earth Insights.
In Australia, Lynas Rare Earths (opens in a new tab) leads with its high-grade Mt Weld Mine in Western Australia, a major neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) producer. Mined material is refined at Malaysia’s Lynas Advanced Materials Plant ( (opens in a new tab)LAMP). Lynas is now expanding domestically with a new processing facility in Kalgoorlie set to open in 2025 and is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Defense on a separation plant in Texas.
MP Materials (opens in a new tab) operates the Mountain Pass Mine in California, the only active REE mine in the United States. Historically reliant on China for refining, the company is now advancing its own on-site separation plant to regain full supply chain control. The company recently inked a deal with General Motors.
Mountain Pass focuses primarily on Nd, Pr, La, and Ce production from a carbonatite deposit and has entered Phase 2 of its vertical integration strategy.
Russia’s contribution centers on the Lovozero Mine (opens in a new tab) on the Kola Peninsula, operated by JSC Lovozersky GOK (opens in a new tab). This mine extracts REEs from nepheline syenite, notably bastnaesite and loparite ores, focusing on both light REEs and niobium/titanium byproducts. However, Western sanctions and logistical hurdles have disrupted its role in global supply.
Meanwhile, Malaysia is not known as a heavy mining country. Still, it plays a vital role as a refining hub, thanks to the LAMP facility operated by Lynas, which processes Australian concentrates into finished REE oxides.
Serra Verde Rare Earths (opens in a new tab) began operations in Brazil in 2024, becoming the only ionic clay REE project outside China to achieve commercial scale. The project delivers key heavy REEs from clays in the country’s Goiás state, including dysprosium and terbium.
Substantial Rare Earth Mines Under Construction
Several major REE projects are under development worldwide, with the aim of diversifying global supply. In Canada, the Wicheeda Project in British Columbia, owned by Defense Metals Corp., is a carbonatite-hosted LREE deposit currently in pre-feasibility. Construction is expected between 2025 and 2026, with first production by 2027.
In Estonia, Neo Performance Materials revives the Sillamäe REE refinery (opens in a new tab), one of the few EU-based separation facilities. The plant is expected to restart operations in 2025 using imported feedstock, boosting Europe’s rare earth independence.
Australia’s Arafura Rare Earth Project shows promise. The Arafura Rare Earths Project, located at Nolans Bore in the Northern Territory (opens in a new tab), Australia, is a major rare earth development focused on producing neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr)—critical elements for permanent magnets used in electric vehicles and wind turbines. Operated by Arafura Rare Earths Ltd, (opens in a new tab) the project is one of the few globally to integrate mine-to-oxide processing on-site, with plans to extract and refine rare earths into separated oxides for export. The deposit is primarily phosphate-hosted and includes both light and some heavy REEs. With a 38-year mine life projected, construction began in 2023, and the first production is targeted for late 2025 or early 2026, positioning it as a key non-China supply source for NdPr in the global magnet supply chain. The company just inked an “ex” China deal with Traxys (opens in a new tab), a mineral trading house.
Kazakhstan, via state-owned Kazatomprom (opens in a new tab) and partners, is piloting REE extraction from ion-adsorption clays and uranium tailings. Commercial-scale production of light and heavy REEs is targeted for post-2026.
In Sweden, the Norra Kärr deposit, held by Leading Edge Materials (opens in a new tab), is progressing through permitting. This zircon silicate-rich resource is high in yttrium and heavy REEs but faces environmental review, with commercial output not expected until the late 2020s.
The Round Top Mountain Project (opens in a new tab) in Texas, developed by Texas Mineral Resources and USA Rare Earth, is advancing through pilot-scale separation. This rhyolite-hosted deposit is rich in heavy REEs, lithium, and gallium, with full production projected by 2026–2027.
Finally, Greenland’s Kvanefjeld Project, owned by Energy Transition Minerals, holds vast reserves of REEs and uranium in the Ilímaussaq intrusive complex. However, the project remains frozen due to environmental and political opposition, as well as pending policy changes in Greenland.
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