Rare Earth Market Outlook 2016

Rare Earth Deposits & Mining / Rare Earth Exploration, Mining, Processing, & Uses

Date posted: 12/23/15

The rare earth market outlook for 2016 is not looking much better than 2015. Hykawy has argued that the issue is with a lack of demand for legally produced quantities of rare earths, since a lack of secure supply for the metals has led to avoiding using them altogether. He concludes, based on conversations with management groups and with RandD teams, that the issue is many companies, especially in the western world, have decided that they simply do not want to take the risk of including rare earths in their supply chains, he explained. Separately, he stated, he was hopeful about the markets moving into 2016, but he does not see much in the rare earths business to be hopeful about. Similarly, while Saxon said that he is seeing a slight lift in pricing for magnet rare earths, he does not anticipate a strong move in either direction for the rare earth market outlook in 2016. For her part, Lee was slightly more positive. They expect to see some of the larger market issues moving towards resolution, she said. Rare earth pricing should improve as new supply from China reflects the full impact of the fairly substantial resource taxes. The China campaign against illegal mining should take hold and remove some of the volatility in pricing. Despite those challenges, both Tasman and Rare Element Resources managed to hit a few milestones this year. Tasman released the results of a pre-feasibility study for its Norra Karr project in Sweden this January, while Rare Element Resources completed bench-scale testing and a portion of pilot plant testing on its separation technology. They conclude that this technology represents a real, tangible advantage to the company in the anticipated lower costs associated with the recovery of the individual end products, and because it is significantly more environmentally friendly than traditional methods, Lee explained. Unfortunately, those achievements did not translate to higher share prices.