Aussie rare earths darling talking to world governments
The largest commercial producer of vital minerals used in modern technologies outside China is stepping up relations with global governments wary of the Asian giant’s market dominance.
Perth-based Lynas Rare Earths’ momentum to develop new opportunities, including expansion into metals and magnet supply chains outside China, is accelerating under its recently announced Towards 2030 strategy, chairman John Humphrey told shareholders.
“Lynas is proud of our position as the market leader in responsibly produced separated rare earth elements,” he told the annual general meeting in Sydney on Wednesday.
Lynas has a high-grade, long-lived deposit. Mt Source Western Australia has long defended its control over the market and mining prices, which have fallen due to strong Chinese supplies.
It offers a range of processed rare earths, including neodymium-praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium, which are used to make magnets for electric vehicles and wind turbines.
Rare earth elements are processed at facilities in Kalgoorlie, which incorporate cracking and leaching technology, and Kyantan, which accelerates the processing of separated heavy rare earth elements, at facilities in Malaysia.
Lynas sells its products to China, but is also working to gain customers outside the Asian giant.
Governments around the world are looking for security of supply beyond China, and Lynas continues to engage with various regimes, CEO Amanda Lacaze said.
“Governments are now realizing the importance of rare earths… and are finally realizing that the current Chinese-dominated market is not healthy,” he told shareholders.
“We are in the best position ever to take advantage of the opportunities and are confident of having a head start” against other market rivals outside China.
Demand for the important rare element neodymium-praseodymium, closely linked to Lynas’ era of renewable energy technology, continues to grow and is expected to double by 2034.
One of the key issues is the reliability of energy supply at the $800 million facility in Kalgoorlie; It came to the fore earlier this week when Lynas warned that production had been cut in the December quarter following the latest power outages.
While negotiations with supplier Western Power to resolve the issue are ongoing, the company hopes to close the gap in 2026.
Lynas shares started the calendar year around $6.50 per share and were down 2.5 percent at $14.65 on Wednesday morning, after peaking near $21.60 in mid-October.
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