A customer dispute at e VAC Magnetics exposes how U.S. magnet factories remain vulnerable without diversified offtake, secure feedstock, and a full
Element Profile
Dysprosium
Symbol
Dy
Atomic number
66
Group
Heavy rare earth
Properties
Density
8.55 g/cm³
Melting point
1412 °C
Boiling point
2567 °C
Crustal abundance
5.2 ppm
Supply Risk
Supply risk
Extreme
Geological scarcity
Medium
Primary economic driver
Heat-resistant magnets
Overview
About Dysprosium
Dysprosium (Dy, atomic number 66) is a heavy rare earth metal whose main job is keeping neodymium magnets working when they run hot. Electric vehicle motors and many wind turbine generators depend on those magnets, and the overwhelming majority of the world's dysprosium is separated in China. That pairing puts dysprosium at the center of Western efforts to build a rare earth supply chain outside China.
What dysprosium is
Dysprosium is a bright, silvery metal in the lanthanide series and one of the heavy rare earth elements. Like the other rare earths, it occurs mixed with its chemical neighbors, and it has to be pulled apart from them by ion exchange or solvent extraction before industry can use it.
The physical properties listed on this page are from the Royal Society of Chemistry periodic table. Los Alamos National Laboratory notes that dysprosium has a high melting point and absorbs neutrons well, and both traits show up in how it is used.
Discovery and name
French chemist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovered dysprosium in Paris in 1886. Its name comes from the Greek dysprositos, meaning "hard to get." Pure samples did not exist until about 1950, when Frank Spedding's team at Iowa State University developed ion-exchange separation, according to the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Why magnets need dysprosium
Neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets lose their resistance to demagnetization as they heat up. Engineers call that resistance coercivity. Replacing a small share of the neodymium with dysprosium raises coercivity and slows its decline as temperature climbs, according to a 2015 technical paper from Arnold Magnetics. The trade-off is a small loss of magnetic strength.
The additions are small. With traditional alloying, the Arnold paper reported wind generator magnets with 4% to 5% dysprosium. Electric vehicle traction motor magnets, which face severe demagnetization stress, used as much as 11%.
Grain-boundary diffusion is the industry's main way to use less. Magnet makers coat a finished magnet with dysprosium or terbium and heat it, so the heavy rare earth collects along the boundaries between grains, where it does the most work. A 2021 review in Materials & Design calls the process the best route to higher coercivity with low heavy rare earth use. Arnold reported that diffusion roughly halved dysprosium content in common high-temperature grades. The U.S. Geological Survey says substitutes exist for some heavy rare earth uses but are generally less effective.
Other uses
- Nuclear control rods. Dysprosium oxide mixed with nickel forms a ceramic-metal material used in reactor control rods, because dysprosium absorbs neutrons (RSC, LANL).
- Lighting. It is used in halide discharge lamps (RSC).
- Lasers. Combined with gallium, aluminum or iron, it forms garnets used in lasers (LANL).
- Data storage and radiation measurement. Los Alamos lists its magnetic properties in computer hard disks and its use in some dosimeters (LANL).
Where dysprosium comes from
Mining and separation happen in different places, and that gap drives dysprosium's supply risk. Dysprosium occurs in monazite and bastnaesite, and in smaller amounts in xenotime and fergusonite (RSC). Heavy rare earths are less abundant than light ones but are concentrated in some ores, especially ion-adsorption clays (USGS).
Those clays sit mainly in southern China and, increasingly, Myanmar, according to a May 2026 Asialink analysis. Global Witness reported in May 2024 that Myanmar had become the single largest source of heavy rare earths, with the material shipped to China for processing. Global Witness linked that expansion to environmental damage and harm to local communities. Brazil has a clay producer too: USGS reported a Brazilian mine producing mixed ionic-clay concentrate with elevated dysprosium and terbium in 2025.
Export controls and supply risk
On April 4, 2025, China's Ministry of Commerce and customs agency placed dysprosium under export licensing in Announcement No. 18. The rule also covers samarium, gadolinium, terbium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium, along with their metals, alloys, oxides, compounds and magnet materials.
In October 2025, China moved to add holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium and europium to the controls, then suspended that expansion in November 2025, before it took effect (IEA; CIRS). The April controls on dysprosium were not suspended. As of December 2025 they remained in effect, although China had begun issuing general export licenses to selected exporters, according to USGS. Under MOFCOM Announcement No. 70, the suspension of the October measures was set to end on November 10, 2026. As of early October 2026, China had not announced an extension of that suspension, and the April controls on dysprosium remained in force.
The licensing matters because there are few other suppliers. The IEA reported in October 2025 that China accounted for about 91% of separation and refining of the magnet rare earths, dysprosium among them, and 94% of sintered permanent magnet production. USGS reported that several U.S. companies made small amounts of heavy rare earth compounds in 2025, but none reached sustained commercial-scale output, and U.S. net import reliance for heavy rare earth compounds and metals was 100%.
Supply outside China (as of October 2026)
Several projects aim to separate dysprosium outside China. The test for each is steady output of oxide that magnet makers have qualified.
- Lynas Rare Earths, Malaysia. Lynas produced its first dysprosium oxide in May 2025 and its first terbium oxide in June 2025 at its Malaysian plant, from ore mined at Mount Weld in Western Australia, according to the company's June 2025 ASX announcement. When it announced first dysprosium in May 2025, Lynas called itself the only commercial producer of separated heavy rare earths outside China.
- MP Materials, Mountain Pass, California. The U.S. Department of Defense (now the Department of War) lent the company $150 million in August 2025 to build heavy rare earth separation (USGS). The circuit is rated at 200 metric tons a year of dysprosium and terbium (MP Materials). The company said the circuit reached mechanical completion in May 2026. In August 2026, it said it remained on track to begin producing both later in 2026, according to coverage of its earnings call. REEx found no public confirmation of dysprosium output as of October 2026.
- Serra Verde, Brazil. The ionic-clay mine noted above received approval for a U.S. International Development Finance Corporation loan in November 2025 (USGS; Bloomberg). It produces concentrate, so separation still happens elsewhere.
Recycling
USGS reported that only small quantities of heavy rare earths were recovered from permanent magnets in 2025, and the Royal Society of Chemistry puts dysprosium's recycling rate below 10%. In January 2025 the Pentagon awarded $5.1 million to a Houston recycler to recover rare earths from electronic waste (The Defense Post). In November 2025 the Pentagon offered a conditional $80 million loan to ReElement Technologies for a planned plant in Marion, Indiana. ReElement stopped pursuing the offer in July 2026 (NS Energy).
Why the price is hard to see
Rare earths, dysprosium included, do not trade on major commodity exchanges, and buyers have few tools to hedge price risk, according to Metals-Hub. Prices are set in private deals and tenders, and the figures quoted in the press are assessments published by specialist price reporting agencies. USGS draws its dysprosium oxide prices from Argus Media and Asian Metal, and Fastmarkets publishes separate rare earth series for China and Europe.
Since the April 2025 controls, those separate series can tell different stories. Shanghai Metals Market reported in 2025 that dysprosium prices outside China climbed while Chinese domestic prices held steady. A quoted price describes only the market and date it was assessed for.
What drives dysprosium demand and supply
Demand for dysprosium tracks demand for magnets that must hold their strength at high temperature, led by electric vehicle motors and wind generators. Supply outside China depends on new separation plants reaching steady output and on how China administers its licenses. Better diffusion methods and magnet designs can stretch each kilogram further.
Frequently asked questions
What is dysprosium used for?
Mostly as an additive in neodymium-iron-boron magnets, where it helps them keep their strength at high temperatures in electric vehicle motors and wind generators. Smaller uses include nuclear reactor control rods, halide lamps, lasers and radiation dosimeters.
Why do magnets need dysprosium?
Neodymium magnets lose coercivity, their resistance to demagnetization, as they heat up. Replacing part of the neodymium with dysprosium raises coercivity and slows that loss, at the cost of a little magnetic strength. Grain-boundary diffusion lets magnet makers get the same effect with much less dysprosium.
Where does dysprosium come from?
Heavy rare earths are concentrated in ion-adsorption clay deposits, found mainly in southern China and, increasingly, Myanmar. Most of the world's separation happens in China, according to the IEA, and Lynas began producing separated dysprosium oxide in Malaysia in May 2025.
Does China restrict dysprosium exports?
Yes. Since April 4, 2025, exporting dysprosium and its compounds, alloys and magnet materials from China has required a license under MOFCOM Announcement No. 18. Those April controls were not part of China's later suspension and remained in force as of early October 2026.
Why is it hard to find a reliable dysprosium price?
Rare earths do not trade on major exchanges, so published prices are assessments from price reporting agencies. Since the 2025 export controls, prices inside and outside China have moved apart, so any quoted price applies only to one market and date.
Primary Uses
- High-temperature additive in NdFeB magnets (EV motors, wind turbines)
- Nuclear control rods
- Halide discharge lamps and lasers
- Data-storage & dosimeter materials
Producing Projects
Companies
Found in Products
REEx Intelligence
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