Rare Earth Elements: Small Market, Big Necessity - 2019

Rare Earth Deposits & Mining

Adamas Interligence Researcg group reported in 2019 on the Mineral Reserves of REEs by Region:

Globally, there are 17 compliant rare earth Mineral Reserves located in 10 nations on five continents. All of the Mineral Reserves were estimated within the last fifteen years and comply with National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”) or Joint Ore Reserves Committee (“JORC”) standards of disclosure
for mineral projects, or South African Code for the Reporting of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (“SAMREC”).

The 17 compliant Mineral Reserves collectively amount to 694.86 Mt of mineralized material containing 1.22 wt. % TREO, equal to 8.49 Mt of TREO in-situ:

• By virtue of the numerous advanced rare earth projects it hosts, Australia’s five rare earth Mineral Reserves contain 30% of the world’s in-situ TREO hosted in compliant Mineral Reserves.
• Owing to its large mass, Greenland’s one rare earth Mineral Reserve holds 18% of the world’s in-situ TREO contained in compliant Mineral Reserves.
• Similarly, the U.S. has two rare earth Mineral Reserves that also contain about 18% of the world’s in-situ TREO hosted in compliant Mineral Reserves.
• Tanzania’s single rare earth Mineral Reserve hosts 10% of the world’s in-situ TREO contained in compliant Mineral Reserves.
• South Africa’s two Mineral Reserves host an additional 10% 
• Brazil’s one rare earth Mineral Reserve hosts 6% of the world’s in-situ TREO contained in compliant Mineral Reserves.
• Canada’s two rare earth Mineral Reserves contain 4% of the world’s in-situ TREO contained in compliant Mineral Reserves.
• Sweden’s one rare earth Mineral Reserve,
• Malawi’s one rare earth Mineral Reserve, and
• Chile’s one rare earth Mineral Reserve host 2%, 2% and 0.1%, respectively, of the world’s in-situ TREO contained in compliant Mineral Reserves.

[There are other known deposits and occurrences, see (here)]

Global Rare Earth Production in 2018

In 2018, Adamas estimated that global mine production of TREO (and TREO equivalent) amounted to 184,000 tonnes – an increase of 21% over the year prior due to substantial production hikes in China, Myanmar and the U.S. Despite possessing just 38% of the world’s non-compliant rare earth reserves, Adamas Intelligence estimates that China was responsible for 68% of global primary TREO production in 2018 (and nearly 100% of global secondary TREO production), Myanmar was responsible for 11%, Australia was responsible for 10%, the U.S. contributed 9%, and 2% came from other nations
Moreover, they estimated that light rare earth oxides (“LREOs”) made up 90% of global primary TREO (and TREO equivalent) production in 2018 and heavy rare earth oxides (“HREOs”) made up the remaining 10% - nearly all of which was mined and processed in China.

In total, they estimated that the value of global primary TREO (and TREO equivalent) production amounted to US $3.24 billion in 2018, an increase of 13% over the value produced the year prior.