The Rare Earth Elements Market

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

Date posted: 04/07/17

Priscila Barrera reports that the rare-earth group is made up of 15 lanthanides, plus yttrium and scandium, and each has different applications, pricing and supply and demand dynamics. Rare earths are often divided into heavy and light categories based on their atomic weight. Heavy rare earths are generally more sought after, but light REEs are important as well. Rare earths can also be grouped together according to how they are used. Those used to make magnet rare earths include praseodymium, neodymium, samarium and dysprosium, while phosphor rare earths, those used in lighting (and TVs), include europium, terbium and yttrium. Cerium, lanthanum and gadolinium are sometimes included in the phosphor category as well. One thing that is common to all the rare earths is that price information is not readily available, like other critical metals, because rare earths are not traded on a public exchange, like uranium. China accounts for the vast majority of the world rare earths supply. It produced 105,000 MT of rare earths in 2016, with Australia coming in a very distant second at 14,000 MT. The Chinese monopoly on rare earths production has created problems in the past. For instance, rare earths prices spiked in 2010 and 2011 when the country imposed export quotas. The move sparked a boom in exploration for rare earths outside of China, but many companies that entered the space at that time fell off the radar when rare earths prices eventually fell again. China no longer has REE export quotas in place, in 2014 the World Trade Organization ruled against them, and China removed the restrictions in 2015. China has long had problems with illegal mining. As part of its 12th Five-year Plan, the country closed 14 illegal rare earths mines as well as 28 companies. As part of its efforts to curb illegal rare earths mining, China announced at the end of 2016 that it would limit its annual rare earths output to 140,000 MT by 2020. Good read on ...