The United States has backed two Australian-listed rare earths projects with up to $850 million of funding as Western nations build a supply chain for the strongly magnetic metals used in sectors from renewable energy to defence.

Australian Strategic Materials ASM.AX said on Thursday it has received a letter of interest (LoI) for a debt funding package of up to $600 million from the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) to support construction of its Dubbo rare earths project northwest of Sydney.

The bank has also offered up to $250 million in preliminary support for Australian-listed Meteoric Resources MEI.AX, which is developing its Caldeira rare earths project in Brazil, Meteoric said on Thursday.

Shares in ASM surged as much as 39% to A$1.65 before paring gains to $1.40 while Meteoric shares were up 1% at A$0.2425.

“When it comes to rare earths, there is a priority for critical minerals and the U.S. supply chain being developed domestically using feedstock and raw materials supply from allied nations,” said Dylan Kelly of fund manager Terra Capital.

“They are putting their money where their mouth is and effectively backing high-probability projects,” he added.

Backing by a government authority is seen as key to attract commercial lenders and private investment to the sector given a recent drop in prices and complex, often costly production requirements.

ASM is due to make a final investment decision by year-end on the Dubbo project that will produce light and heavy rare earths oxides. It already has A$200 million ($132.24 million) of initial support from the Australian government.

In December 2021, it said the plant would cost A$1.68 billion, but construction costs have since surged. It also operates a processing plant in South Korea.

Meteoric is targeting an investment decision late next year for Caldeira which will produce light rare earths neodymium, praseodymium (NdPr) and heavy rare earths dysprosium and terbium.

“The LoI represents a material step in ASM’s project funding strategy and is recognition of the strong engagement the Company has experienced from government, investors, and industry groups in North America,” ASM said in an exchange filing.

The U.S. has already offered support to Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC) for its processing facilities in Texas that are under construction.

The U.S. and Australia last year set up a critical minerals taskforce as Australia looks to drum up investment for minerals processing from allied nations as an alternative to top producer China, which accounts for more than 80% of global supply.

EXIM’s support for both projects is linked to the potential U.S. content in equipment, goods and services.

ASM last year agreed to sell neodymium iron boron alloy from its South Korean metals plant to U.S.-based rare-earth magnet maker Noveon Magnetics Inc from material sourced from Vietnam.

Australia last week said it would provide up to A$840 million ($550 million) for a combined rare earths mine and refinery in the country’s Northern Territory, owned by Arafura Rare Earths ARU.AX.

($1 = 1.5124 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Ayushman Ojha and Melanie Burton in Melbourne; Editing by Josie Kao, David Gregorio and Jamie Freed)

The preliminary technical and economic study on the viability of the project is based on a scenario that includes developing an open pit mine, constructing a beneficiation facility onsite and a refinery offsite.

The report, compiled by independent firm Stantec Consulting Services, highlights a three million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) operating scenario. 

Net present value (NPV) is pegged at $673.9 million at an 8% discount rate and $505.1 million at a 10% discount rate (pre-tax), yielding an internal rate of return of 22.5%.

The payback period is estimated at 2.9 years, with total initial capital expenditures (capex) of $456.1 million, including a $76 million contingency.

Based on a mineral resource estimate updated in February, Halleck Creek holds 2.34 billion tonnes of material grading 3,196 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxides (TREO), including neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr) oxides, for 7.48 million tonnes of contained TREO. This includes 1.42 billion tonnes in the measured and indicated category.

The new figures represent a 128% increase over the 2023 estimate, at a grade of 3,295 ppm TREO.

Rare earths, a group of 17 minerals critical to the energy transition for their use in electric car batteries and wind turbines, are also crucial to national security for use in aerospace and defence applications.

Wyoming has become an exploration hotbed for these materials in hopes it could become America’s answer to China’s lock on the market. The Halleck Creek project was named by Mining Intelligence last year as one the world’s top 10 rare earth projects, measured in total rare earth oxides (TREO).

On top of the scoping study for Halleck Creek released Monday, the company will also need to acquire the necessary licences to explore on Wyoming state mineral leases in order to collect rocks for bulk material testing and pilot-scale metallurgical test-work.

After that, American Rare Earths will prepare and implement a detailed baseline environmental plan and will also start working on a permit application to mine on state mineral leases.

Arafura expects the funding, mostly in government loans, for the Nolans project north of Alice Springs in central Australia to be matched by investment from international and commercial financiers.

The investment comes as Australia and its allies diversify the global supply chain for rare earths after Covid-19-related snarls highlighted supply risk in China which produces more than 80% of the world’s rare earths.

“We will deliver critical jobs and economic development in the heart of the Territory and the north,” Albanese said in a statement.

Arafura, whose largest shareholder is mining magnate and Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart, saw its shares open up as much as 59% at A$0.235 after the news on Thursday. They had been in a trading halt since Wednesday pending news of debt financing.

The project will be Australia’s third rare earths processing plant after Lynas Rare Earths’ Kalgoorlie operations and Iluka Resource’s Eneabba heavy rare earths plant which is under development – both in the country’s west.

Arafura already has supply agreements with Hyundai Motor, Kia Corp and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, and a provisional agreement with General Electric.

Its funding includes loans of $325 million under the government’s Critical Minerals Facility (CMF), A$200 million through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, up to $75 million from Export Finance Australia and a further A$30 million in grants under the Modern Manufacturing Initiative.

Backed by the funding, Arafura in an exchange filing said it plans a major equity raising to complete the funds needed for construction, commissioning and first production.

Price slump

Rare earths are used to make powerful magnets and are essential for renewable energy and defence technologies. Electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, robotics and mobile phones all rely on rare earths.

Prices of rare earths neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) have slumped as China has ramped up supply to levels well below those needed when it comes to seeking finance for a new project, said analyst Daniel Morgan at Barrenjoey.

“A lot of these projects face economic challenges… Getting private money is very difficult,” he said, adding there is a role for government to help companies enter production given the strategic nature of the industry.

In 2022, the government approved a A$1.25 billion loan for Iluka’s Eneabba plant through the CMF.

Iluka in December said the project was delayed and that costs were likely to have increased by around 20%.

Lynas is the world’s biggest producer of rare earths outside China, which it mines at Mount Weld in Western Australia. It has been allocated $258 million from the US government to build the first commercial heavy rare earths separation facility in the United States.

($1 = 1.5088 Australian dollars)

(By Melanie Burton; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christopher Cushing)

The Penco module covers a 6 sq. km. area hosting an ionic clay deposit rich in heavy rare earths, with measured and indicated resources totalling 27.5 million tonnes grading 2,292 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO), for 62,900 tonnes of contained TREO.

Under the investment agreement, CAP will make a strategic investment in REE Uno, Aclara’s Chilean subsidiary which owns the Penco module as well as all its mining concessions in the country, in exchange for a 20% equity participation in the REE unit.

This initial capital, according to Aclara’s calculations, gives REE Uno a pre-money valuation of $116.5 million. It will be paid in three tranches: $9.7 million upon closing, $12.5 million in January 2024 and the remaining $6.9 million in January 2026.

The initial capital injection from CAP will support the ongoing development of the Penco module throughout its permitting, community relations and feasibility study phases. It will also allow the company to reallocate its current cash reserves towards advancing its other project: the Carina module in Brazil.

Drawing upon CAP’s experience in environmental permitting from multiple mining projects in Chile, Aclara anticipates strengthened support for the forthcoming Penco environmental impact assessment (EIA) permit application.

CAP’s involvement includes a thorough review and constructive contributions to the application preparation, as well as accompanying Aclara throughout the review and approval process by Chilean environmental agencies, the TSX-listed miner said.

CAP also has an option to invest an additional $50 million in REE Uno for an additional 20% equity interest once the requisite environmental permit is secured for the Penco module. This second investment represents a pre-money valuation of REE Uno of $150 million.

The option for additional investment post-receipt of the environmental permit is intended to cover a significant part of the equity portion associated with the construction of the Penco module. This provision mitigates financing risks linked to the module’s construction, Aclara said.

The Chilean group can also invest up to 19.9% in Aclara itself by participating in any private placement or public offerings that Aclara may make over the next threes years. This includes a residual top-up right to maintain its pro rata voting right in the REE miner.

The companies will also form of a 50/50 joint venture to develop metals and alloys for the rare earths permanent magnet industry. CAP will invest $3 million in exchange for its 50% of the shares of the newly established joint venture company.

The establishment of a metals and alloys company represents the initial phase of Aclara’s strategic vision to vertically integrate its rare earths concentrate production towards the manufacturing of permanent magnets.

This move aims to offer a geopolitically independent alternative supply of permanent magnets to the market, Aclara said, adding that the new company will harness CAP’s expertise in metal refining and ferro-alloyed special steels, synergizing with its thorough understanding of the rare earths and permanent magnet industry.

The transaction reflects the valuation of Aclara at the time of the company’s initial public offering in late 2021 after it spun off from Hochschild Mining, and is indicative of the belief both parties have in establishing Aclara as a leading producer of clean rare earths.

The pre-money valuation of the initial investment plus the 50% interest in the new JV company represent a total value of $119.5 million, which reflects Aclara’s pre-money valuation at the IPO.

“We are thrilled to partner with CAP to develop our Penco module and strategy in Chile, as well as joining efforts to start developing Aclara’s capabilities in the vertical integration of the rare earths and permanent magnets industry,” Aclara chairman Eduardo Hochschild said in a news release.

“This alliance with Aclara represents a historic milestone for Grupo CAP, marking the first step in our strategy to become leaders in the production of essential materials for decarbonization and energy transition,” Juan Enrique Rassmuss, chairman of CAP, added.

Shares of Aclara Resources surged 30.1% to C$0.51 as of 11:30 a.m. ET, for a market capitalization of C$83.8 million ($62.2 million). The stock traded between C$0.36 and C$0.60 over the past 52 weeks.

Australian Strategic Materials said on Thursday it has received a letter of interest (LoI) for a debt funding package of up to $600 million from the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM) to support construction of its Dubbo rare earths project northwest of Sydney.

The bank has also offered up to $250 million in preliminary support for Australian-listed Meteoric Resources, which is developing its Caldeira rare earths project in Brazil, Meteoric said on Thursday.

Shares in ASM surged as much as 39% to A$1.65 before paring gains to $1.40 while Meteoric shares were up 1% at A$0.2425.

“When it comes to rare earths, there is a priority for critical minerals and the US supply chain being developed domestically using feedstock and raw materials supply from allied nations,” said Dylan Kelly of fund manager Terra Capital.

“They are putting their money where their mouth is and effectively backing high-probability projects,” he added.

Backing by a government authority is seen as key to attract commercial lenders and private investment to the sector given a recent drop in prices and complex, often costly production requirements.

ASM is due to make a final investment decision by year-end on the Dubbo project that will produce light and heavy rare earths oxides. It already has A$200 million ($132.24 million) of initial support from the Australian government.

In December 2021, it said the plant would cost A$1.68 billion, but construction costs have since surged. It also operates a processing plant in South Korea.

Meteoric is targeting an investment decision late next year for Caldeira which will produce light rare earths neodymium, praseodymium (NdPr) and heavy rare earths dysprosium and terbium.

“The LoI represents a material step in ASM’s project funding strategy and is recognition of the strong engagement the Company has experienced from government, investors, and industry groups in North America,” ASM said in an exchange filing.

The US has already offered support to Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths for its processing facilities in Texas that are under construction.

The US and Australia last year set up a critical minerals taskforce as Australia looks to drum up investment for minerals processing from allied nations as an alternative to top producer China, which accounts for more than 80% of global supply.

EXIM’s support for both projects is linked to the potential US content in equipment, goods and services.

ASM last year agreed to sell neodymium iron boron alloy from its South Korean metals plant to US-based rare-earth magnet maker Noveon Magnetics Inc from material sourced from Vietnam.

Australia last week said it would provide up to A$840 million ($550 million) for a combined rare earths mine and refinery in the country’s Northern Territory, owned by Arafura Rare Earths.

($1 = 1.5124 Australian dollars)

(By Ayushman Ojha and Melanie Burton; Editing by Josie Kao, David Gregorio and Jamie Freed)

“Elevating our ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership today places Australia and Vietnam among each other’s significant partners,” Albanese told a news conference in Canberra.

The ties upgrade marks the latest success for Communist-ruled Vietnam’s “bamboo diplomacy”, after it boosted relations last year with the world’s top powers as it tries to navigate rising global tensions.

“Mutual political trust between the two countries has been elevated, reaching the highest-ever level,” the official Vietnam News Agency reported on Thursday.

The partnership will support expanded cooperation on a range of issues, including climate, environment and energy, defence and security, and economic engagement and education, a joint statement by the two countries said.

Albanese and Chinh on Thursday also witnessed the exchanges of 12 cooperation documents on areas including energy, minerals, agriculture, banking and finance, according to the Vietnamese government.

Australia is a major producer of critical minerals that are used in everything from smartphones to automobiles, while Vietnam has some of the largest untapped deposits in the world.

“An annual ministerial dialogue on energy and minerals will drive cooperation in our energy and resources sectors, including critical minerals supply chains,” the statement said.

The United States has already agreed to boost cooperation on rare earths with Vietnam, whose resources are seen as an alternative source of the minerals. China has the world’s largest deposits, with 44 million tons estimated, and dominates the extraction and processing of the critical minerals.

Vietnam, which is said to have the world’s second-largest deposits of around 22 million tons of rare earths oxide (REO) equivalent, has attracted miners from Australia.

Blackstone Minerals Ltd. had agreed to partner with Vietnam Rare Earth JSC (VTRE) to win concessions at the Vietnam’s biggest mine, Dong Pao in Lai Chau province, in a project that would amount to about $100 million if it wins the concession.

Australian Strategic Materials also signed a binding agreement in April 2023 with VTRE for the purchase of 100 tons of processed rare earths a year, and committed to negotiating a longer-term supply deal.

However, some rare earth deals have been left in limbo after Vietnamese police in October arrested the VTRE chairman and accused him of forging value added tax receipts and rare earth smuggling.

Australia has been a key coal supplier to Vietnam, which is heavily reliant on the fossil fuels for power generation. Coal shipments from Australia to Vietnam rose 17% last year to 20 million metric tons, accounting for 39% of Vietnam’s total coal imports.

Along with Australia, the Southeast Asian nation’s top partners now include the United States, China, India, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

(By Alasdair Pal and Khanh Vu; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Michael Perry and Gerry Doyle)

The funding provides the company with the necessary capital to advance Halleck Creek towards development with the aim to deliver a secure supply of critical minerals to the North American supply chain, the company said.

ARR this month provided an updated mineral resource estimate for its wholly owned Halleck Creek project, showing a 64% increase in its in-situ tonnage compared to the previous estimate last fall.

In total, there are now 2.34 billion tonnes of material grading 3,196 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxides (TREO), including neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr) oxides, for 7.48 million tonnes of contained TREO. This includes 1.42 billion tonnes in the measured and indicated category, a 128% increase over the 2023 estimate, at a grade of 3,295 ppm TREO.

The mineral resource update follows the results of the September-October 2023 exploration program as well as additional surface sampling and geological mapping at Halleck Creek. From April 2022 through October 2023, the company has drilled a total of 70 holes and 9,031 metres.

Looking ahead, the company said it will focus on extensional drilling, pre-feasibility studies, metallurgical testwork and process development, as well as heritage, permitting and environmental activities.

The initial startup supply will be sourced from local artisanal mining cooperatives, promoting responsible sourcing, the company said, adding that rare earth concentrate supply is expected to ramp up from 100 to 500 tons per month by mid-2024.

The company said it is exploring mineral concessions for acquisition, intending to secure 2-3 exclusive sources of rare earth concentrate and other minerals for purchase and operation by the end of 2024.

These proprietary concessions will significantly boost supply and reduce costs, complementing the artisanal supply chain, Canada Rare Earth said.

“By establishing our proprietary operations, we are simultaneously expanding Canada Rare Earth’s supply capabilities while instituting a more controlled and secure source of rare earth minerals from the Kivu Provinces, a region well known for its rich mineral resources,” Simba Essential Minerals CEO Steve Sadiki said in a news release.

Canada Rare Earth’s project portfolio also includes the Red Wine complex in the Central Mineral Belt of Labrador, as well as prospective refinery sites located in Brazil.

The company, which held unsuccessful merger talks earlier this year with rival Lynas Rare Earths, has struggled in recent months with falling prices and stiff competition from Chinese rivals.

Jim Litinsky, the company’s CEO and largest shareholder, declined to directly discuss the merger talks on conference call with investors, but said: “Objectively, when you look at any company in a generic sense, there are always things that companies can learn from each other and cut costs around.”

Shares of the Las Vegas-based company rose slightly in after-hours trading after falling 2.7% on Thursday.

MP posted a quarterly net loss of $16.3 million, or 9 cents per share, compared with a profit of $67 million, or 36 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Excluding one-time items, MP lost 2 cents per share. Analysts expected a loss of 4 cents, according to LSEG data.

For the past four years, MP has processed rock it extracts from its Mountain Pass mine in California into rare earths concentrate that is shipped to China for refining. The company sold 7,174 metric tons of that concentrate during the quarter, about 34% lower than the year-ago period.

MP said the drop was due in part to lower production at the California mine, partly due to problems at the facility’s power plant.

MP has been working to refine its own rare earths for some time. The company said its refining equipment in California produced 150 metric tons of neodymium and praseodymium – the two most in demand rare earths – during the quarter, with 10 metric tons sold.

MP also said it has finished construction on a rare earths magnet plant in Texas and has begun testing equipment there.

The company on the conference call also announced an investment in a rare earths metal facility in Vietnam, where it said it has begun production.

(By Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Shares of the Australian rare earths miner advanced as much as 16.1%, their biggest intraday jump since July 4, 2023.

Hastings, which is backed by Fortescue chairman Andrew Forrest, will supply a minimum of 10,000 tons per annum of concentrate for an initial seven years, with the offtake deal having an option to extend it for another five.

Hastings is developing a rare earths mine and processing plant at Yangibana in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia.

“Negotiations are ongoing with other potential customers to conclude similar offtake arrangements for the remaining Yangibana project volumes,” Hastings told investors in a statement on Friday.

The company said the offtake deal will allow it to realize higher prices for its concentrate and would significantly improve the “economics of the Yangibana project.”

Hastings had previously signed an offtake agreement in 2018 with the privately-owned Baotou, which lapsed last year.

The Australian miner also has existing supply agreements with European chemical giant Solvay and owns a 21.15% stake in Canada’s Neo Performance Materials.

In 2022, Forrest’s Wyloo Metals made an investment through a note issue to fund Hastings’ stake buy in Toronto-listed magnet producer Neo.

(By Shivangi Lahiri; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

“Continuing positive results from our technical studies suggest that our wholly-owned Wicheeda REE project has the potential to become the next producer of rare earth elements in North America accounting for a significant amount of the rare earths needed for the western world’s future magnet metal production,” said Defense Metals CEO Craig Taylor in a release.

Beginning in 2018 up to the present, Defense has spent about C$5 million on metallurgical test work and the creation of flowsheets for the Wicheeda project. Recent studies optimized the milling and hydrometallurgical processes and the response of 21 variability samples representing different rare earth element (REE) grades, lithologies and locations within the deposit.

The results of the metallurgical tests will be included in the prefeasibility study due to be completed in the second quarter of 2024, said Taylor, and then work would begin on the feasibility study.

The Wicheeda project has measured and indicated resources that total 34.2 million tonnes grading 2.02% TREO and contain 699,000 tonnes of TREO. The inferred portion is 11.1 million tonnes at 1.02% TREO and contains 113,000 tonnes.

Ottawa is focused on six critical minerals key to making electric vehicles and wind turbines: lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, copper, and so-called rare earth elements.

Wilkinson said the mining and processing of critical minerals was currently too dominated by China.

“(We’re) looking at how do we optimize the regulatory and permanent processes so you can take what is a 12 to 15-year process and bring it down to maybe five,” he said.

“There are ways you can just do things smarter … There’s no reason that you can’t do permitting of different things between federal and provincial governments at the same time, instead of doing them sequentially.”

Canada plans to reduce the time to approve mining permits by better funding the regulatory agency to get rid of paperwork backlogs and running permitting and environmental assessment processes at the same time.

The country will have to continue importing cobalt, Wilkinson said, due to its limited resources of the metal. China controls most of the world’s refined cobalt and rare earths supplies.

To cover costs, Canada is putting in place investment tax credits to pay for a “significant chunk” of the capital associated with new mining and mineral processing projects, Wilkinson said.

Funds are also ready to be made available for infrastructure like transmission lines and roads that will help accelerate the development of new minerals, he added.

The government is also investing billions of dollars in several companies’ battery factory projects in Canada, including Swedish battery producer Northvolt and German car manufacturer Volkswagen.

A loan guarantee programme is being put in place as well to provide access for indigenous communities to low-cost debt for investing as equity participants in existing and future projects, Wilkinson said.

In July, a group of five First Nation communities protested against mining plans in the so-called “Ring of Fire”, a region in the remote James Bay Lowlands of northern Ontario that is seen as the next frontier for mining metals such as copper, cobalt and nickel.

Wilkinson said streamlining permitting and environmental assessments would not lead to corner-cutting.

“I think the environmental community also recognizes that there is no energy transition without significantly enhanced volumes of critical minerals,” he said.

(By Forrest Crellin and Julia Payne; Editing by Mark Potter)

Fatih Birol said the production of electric cars, solar panels and other energy equipment requires a steady supply of minerals such as lithium, cobalt and copper.

The IEA continues to keep an eye on oil and gas markets, Birol said, but the supply chain of energy technologies is an important emerging security challenge.

“It is the reason we are embarking on a critical minerals security program,” he said in a speech.

“Currently, we are A, not able to keep up with the demand, and B, the ability of manufacturing these critical minerals is concentrated in one single country or two,” he said.

He did not give further details, but said the program was “inspired by our oil security mechanism”, which requires member countries to hold 90 days’ worth of oil stocks that can be released in the event of global supply disruptions.

China is the main producer for 30 out of 50 critical materials, according to a US Aerospace Industries Association paper last year, and is the world’s top miner and processor of rare earths.

The country last year imposed curbs on exports of gallium and germanium and types of graphite in an effort to protect its dominance in strategic metals.

The IEA’s move comes as countries escalate efforts to cut emissions, requiring ready supplies of critical minerals such as lithium, copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite used in batteries, and rare earth elements used in wind turbines and electric vehicles.

That new demand has stirred concerns about price volatility and security of supply, and the IEA has warned that even in an electrified, renewables-rich energy system, geopolitics remains a key consideration.

Last July, the agency published its inaugural Critical Minerals Market Review and hosted in September the first-ever international summit on critical minerals and their role in clean energy transitions.

(By America Hernandez and Geert De Clercq; Editing by Jan Harvey)

The Montreal-based company obtained the environmental permit to explore the Minastyc property, located in eastern Colombia, in April last year.

Results from a 2021 campaign showed important concentrations of various critical minerals, including niobium (Nb), gallium (Ga), rubidium (Rb), praseodymium (Pr), dysprosium (Dy), germanium (Ge), cerium (Ce), and samarium (Sm), Auxico said.

Observations from channel sampling across eight pits indicate the prevalence of mineralization within the clayish-rich conglomerate, particularly rich in tantalum, niobium, scandium and other critical minerals.

“The extensive sampling data not only validates the property’s potential but also facilitates the development of an accurate plan with key targets as Auxico progresses towards production,” chairman Mark Billings said.

Auxico initially discovered rare earth oxide (TREO) content of 56.81% at Minastyc, likely the product of an asteroid impact in close proximity to the property.  

Studies carried out since 2019 prompted Auxirico to buy two adjoining properties; Agualinda and the Minastyc. These assets are located within a strategic area designated by the Colombian government for its potential for tantalum, niobium and rare earths. 

Auxico, which is the exclusive trade agent for rare earth concentrates from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), believes Minastyc is a critical mineral-rich project that can quickly be developed into a small-scale mine.

According to a recent study led by scientists at the University of São Paulo (USP), sediments from this formation – which is about the size of Spain – have been dated between 45 million and 40 million years ago.

In a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, the experts explain that over 10 years, they travelled around the area in research ships and analyzed samples of seafloor sediment dredged at a depth of about 650 metres in the western RGR. They were able to characterize its mineralogical, geochemical and magnetic properties.

The samples contained mainly red clay with several minerals typical of tropical volcanic rock alterations, such as kaolinite, magnetite, oxidized magnetite, hematite and goethite.

“Our research and analysis enabled us to determine that it was indeed an island, and what’s now under discussion is whether the area can be included in Brazil’s legally recognized continental shelf,” Luigi Jovane, senior author of the article, said in a media statement.

“Geologically speaking, we discovered that the clay was formed after the last volcanic activity occurred 45 million years ago. The formation therefore dates from between 30 million and 40 million years ago. And it must have been formed as a result of these tropical conditions.”

For Jovane, the fact that a multidisciplinary team participated in the research contributed to the results.

“We have a group of the highest quality including specialists in geology, geochemistry, biology, hydrodynamics, environmental impact assessment, new energies, psychology, and law. All this accumulated science can be used to deepen our understanding of the RGR and prospect the region without affecting the local system’s synergies,” he said.

“To know whether resources can be viably extracted from the seafloor, we need to analyze the sustainability and impacts of this extraction. The ecosystem services provided by the ocean there haven’t been studied in detail, for example. When you interfere with an area, you have to know how this will affect animals, fungi and corals, and understand the impact you’ll have on the cumulative processes involved.”

Seafloor discoveries

Jovane and his team reconstructed the western portion of the RGR using high-resolution bathymetric mapping that showed plateaus covered with sediment and separated by a rift with a depth of more than 600 metres.

They used an autonomous underwater vehicle and a remotely operated vehicle to produce maps, videos and sonar surveys.

The AUV was capable of diving down to the seafloor and covering a pre-established area for a maximum of 12 hours. The ROV was connected to a ship by a cable as it moved while producing high-resolution images, and collecting samples of rocks and organisms with a robotic arm.

Red earth

The existence of tropical soil between the volcanic lava flows detected by the researchers shows that the rocks must have been exposed to open-air weathering in a warm-wet climate in a region with active volcanoes less than 40 million years ago. The soil is similar to the “red earth” found in many parts of São Paulo state.

The RGR has been intensely studied in recent years because of its economic potential. It is in international waters and hence governed by the International Seabed Authority. In December 2018, the Brazilian government applied for an extension of its continental shelf to include the RGR, which is well beyond the limit of 200 nautical miles established for all nations by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Areas rich in cobalt, nickel and lithium, as well as tellurium and other rare earths critical to the transition from fossil fuels, one of the main drivers of global warming, to renewable energy, have been detected in the RGR. 

“It’s important to understand the ecosystem services and other natural processes at work in the RGR,” Jovane said. “Only this knowledge can enable us to carry out the environmental impact assessments and calculate the mitigation measures and offsets required to protect it if economic development is permitted.”

In total, there are now 2.34 billion tonnes of material grading 3,196 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxides (TREO), including neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr) oxides, for 7.48 million tonnes of contained TREO. This includes 1.42 billion tonnes in the measured and indicated category, a 128% increase over the 2023 estimate, at a grade of 3,295 ppm TREO.

Magnet rare earth elements (Nd₂O₃, Pr₆O₁₁, Sm₂O₃, Dy₂O₃, and Tb₄O₇) comprise about 27% of the total resource with an average grade of 774 ppm MREO, with a contained metal estimate of 1.8 million tonnes.

The new estimate uses a cut-off grade of 1,000 ppm TREO as opposed to the 1,500 ppm used previously. Stantec, the engineering consulting provider with whom ARR is working with to develop a JORC-compliant scoping study at Halleck Creek, determined that a 1,000 ppm cut-off grade meets the conditions for reporting a mineral resource with reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction.

The mineral resource update follows the results of ARR’s September-October 2023 exploration program as well as additional surface sampling and geological mapping at Halleck Creek. From April 2022 through October 2023, the company has drilled a total of 70 holes and 9,031 metres.

According to the Australia-listed miner, the drilling not only expanded the geological model for Halleck Creek, but also provided data to geo-statistically define measured resource extents at the Overton Mountain area as well as redefine the indicated resource extents at Red Mountain with high degrees of confidence.

“Typically, you’ll see the resource decrease as infill drilling takes place – instead we’re seeing the opposite, with only 25% of the project being drilled to this point,” CEO Donald Swartz said in a news release. “The 64% boost in resources accompanied by a 128% increase in the M+I category, as he points out, are “illustrative of the enormous potential of the project.”

“The low-cost mine plan when combined with the breakthroughs around metallurgy have increased our confidence and excitement about this world class deposit. At 27% MREO, we look forward to releasing the results of the scoping study that is nearing completion,” Swartz added.

On top of the scoping study to evaluate the technical, mining and economic designs for Halleck Creek, which is envisioned to be a traditional open-pit operation, ARR will also need to acquire the necessary licences to explore on Wyoming state mineral leases in order to collect rocks for bulk material testing and pilot-scale metallurgical testwork.

After that, the company will prepare and implement a detailed baseline environmental plan and mining permit to mine on state mineral leases. ARR currently controls approximately 33 sq. km. of mining claims and state mineral leases within the Halleck Creek district.

Shares of American Rare Earths were up 3.9% on the ASX following the resource update, trading at A$0.14 apiece. The company has a market capitalization of A$60.3 million ($39.3m).

In recent years, nickelates have been the subject of considerable interest because they are newfound close cousins of the well-known “cuprates,” a family of copper oxide-based superconductors that can have high transition temperatures, upwards of 100 Kelvin, at which point electrical resistance vanishes, whereas, for conventional superconductors, such as lead or niobium, their transitions are below 10 Kelvin. High-temperature superconductors are much easier to cool and thus are far more promising for potential future applications.

Ever since cuprates were first discovered in the late 1980s, scientists have sought similar superconducting families that might pinpoint the key qualities that enable high-temperature superconductivity.

“One obvious place to look is nickel because nickel is right next to copper on the periodic table,” said Kyle Shen, the professor who oversaw the project led by postdoctoral fellow Christopher Parzyck. “So people thought maybe we can do some material synthesis magic and make nickel-bearing compounds sort of like cuprates. That idea existed 30 years ago. The reason it took so long to realize is it turns out nickelate superconductors are hard to make.”

Other researchers had synthesized nickelates—which are composed of nickel, oxygen and a rare earth element—by first growing a “precursor” material and then exposing that material to a source of hydrogen and heating it inside a sealed tube. Over a day or so, the hydrogen pulls out roughly a third of the material’s oxygen molecules, which Shen compared to removing blocks in a game of Jenga.

“Synthesizing these materials is a bit of a nightmare,” he said.

Alternative technique

Parzyck and Shen devised an alternative technique in which the oxygen is removed by a beam of atomic hydrogen, a process that is commonly used for cleaning semiconductor surfaces, but had never been used for materials synthesis. Atomic hydrogen reduction gives the researchers greater independent control of the amount of hydrogen being applied, in addition to variables such as time and pressure. The process can be completed in minutes, rather than hours or a day.

“Developing the reduction technique was a long and challenging process in and of itself,” Parzyck said. “When I first started out, I tried to apply conditions like those used in traditional calcium hydride reduction—low temperatures for relatively long periods of time—but the sample quality was always low and not very consistent. It wasn’t until I decided to start fresh and go in a completely different direction—opting for higher temperatures for as short of a duration as possible—that I really found some success.”

Parzyck tried X-ray scattering experiments with his nickelate samples at a synchrotron beamline. His goal was to measure the samples to detect the suspected presence of “charge ordering”—a phenomenon in which electrons self-organize into periodic patterns. The phenomenon has been linked to high-temperature superconductivity.

However, the synchrotron experiments failed to show the “resonant scattering peak” that should have signalled the presence of charge ordering, so the researchers began varying the amount of oxygen they were stripping out.

“The real breakthrough came when we started measuring the samples which we purposefully prepared to have excess oxygen and saw a very strong, clear response—then we had a viable alternative explanation for the peak’s origin and finally knew we were going in the right direction,” Parzyck said.

To confirm their suspicions, they collaborated with the late professor Lena Kourkoutis, as well as with professor David Muller and their doctoral student Lopa Bhatt, who used electron microscopy to directly verify that trace amounts of oxygen in the samples were indeed causing the spurious charge-order signal.

Not only has the team identified a crucial difference between cuprate and nickelate superconductors; they now have a more reliable method for growing cleaner samples that can potentially be used for a wider variety of experiments, with a little less mystery.

Rare earths are a group of 17 elements used in products from lasers and military equipment to magnets found in EVs and consumer electronics. Prices surged to their highest in a decade in 2022 only to plunge last year on increased production in China and slower-than-expected demand growth crippled by the country’s patchy post-pandemic economic recovery.

The price in China of praseodymium oxide, one of the most widely used rare earth elements, fell 34% in 2023, while terbium oxide and neodymium oxide tumbled to their lowest levels since late 2020 last month, Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) data showed.

However, further downside for rare earths is likely to be limited as prices, particularly for neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide, used in permanent magnets, fell 38% last year and are near the production cost level, said SMM analyst Yang Jiawen.

NdPr oxide is likely to see an 800-metric-ton deficit globally in 2024, flipping from last year’s 6,600-ton surplus, Guolian Securities wrote last month.

“We expect extra supply to be more or less cleared by end-2024, as demand catches up with supply through continually increasing electric vehicle sales and wind turbine production,” said analyst Willis Thomas at CRU Group.

China quota

Last year, China issued a third batch of rare earth output quotas, the first time it issued a third set of quotas in a year since 2006, with the total quota for the year at a record high of 255,000 tons, up 21.4% from a year earlier.

However, China’s quotas are expected to increase at a slower rate this year, at between 10% to 15%, analysts at information provider Baiinfo said in a research note.

“We do expect another increase in production quota for both mining and separation … but not to the extent we have seen last year,” said analyst Ross Embleton at Wood Mackenzie.

China, which accounts for 70% of rare earths mining and 90% of refined output, according to the United States Geological Survey, has controlled its supply of the strategic resource through the quota system since 2006.

(By Amy Lv and Mai Nguyen; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

Read More: Lynas Rare Earths quits tie-up talks with MP Materials

Lynas is the world’s biggest producer of rare earths outside of China, and MP is the biggest in the United States. Talks come as Western nations seek to diversify supply chains for the magnetic metals that are used in everything from wind turbines to electric vehicles to missiles.

China is the world’s top rare earths consumer and producer, controlling some 87% of global rare earths refining capacity, according to the International Energy Agency. The merger talks come as rare earths prices have sharply dropped due to a slowdown in China’s economy.

“Lynas confirms it has held confidential discussions with MP Materials Corp regarding a potential transaction, however, these discussions are not ongoing,” it said in a release to Australia’s securities exchange.

Lynas has been constructing a processing plant in Western Australia’s Kalgoorlie to add to its refining operations in Malaysia and the US where it is building processing facilities in Texas supported by the Department of Defense.

MP processes rock that it extracts from its Mountain Pass mine in California into rare earths concentrate that is shipped to China for refining. It has been struggling to crack the difficult technology to refine its own material for some time.

China in December banned the export of technology to make rare earth magnets adding it to a ban already in place on technology to extract and separate the critical materials.

“I wouldn’t think there is a whole lot of synergies out of that, just consolidating supply,” Argo Investments portfolio manager Andy Foster said of a potential tie-up between Lynas and MP.

“As a shareholder, what’s the real benefit? (Lynas) has got one of the best rare earths deposits in the world. I get the consolidation argument but I’m not sure about any strategic value transfer.”

Speculation

One source with direct knowledge of the proposal said that general contours of a deal would have involved Lynas de-listing in Australia and MP keeping its New York Stock Exchange listing, and that any deal was aimed for the first quarter.

But industry sources questioned what Lynas, which already has a strong customer base in Japan and highly specialised technology, would get from the deal, making it hard to agree on a value for the tie-up. Anti-trust regulation would also be a major hurdle, they said, even as Western countries try to reduce China’s dominance.

In the statement, Lynas said it was building its growth organically and looking to build scale. Its second-quarter revenue fell sharply, missing analysts’ estimates, hurt by low prices for its main product neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr).

The rare earth miner has a current market capitalization of about $3.55 billion, while its New-York listed peer is valued at $3.06 billion. Shares in MP closed up 6.4% on Friday while Lynas shares traded 1.7% lower on Monday morning.

(By Melanie Burton, Archishma Iyer, Ernest Schedyer, Eric Onstand and Scott Murdoch; Editing by Diane Craft, Lisa Shumaker and Lincoln Feast)

The Sydney-based publication suggests that the companies may be in talks to merge, potentially forming the world’s largest producer of rare earths outside China.

Both Lynas, with a mine in Western Australia and a plant in Malaysia, and MP, with operations in California’s Mountain Pass, have faced challenges due to plummeting rare earth prices.

Over the past year, MP shares have plummeted by over 50%, while Lynas shares declined by approximately 40%.

China’s recent ban on the export of rare earth extraction and separation technologies aims to safeguard its market dominance amid speculation about China cutting off supply amid deteriorating US relations.

Last year, Lynas managing director Amanda Lacaze told the AFR the company consistently receives merger and acquisition proposals. She reportedly emphasized the need for a source of heavy rare earths to complement its Australian operations and fulfill commitments to the US Department of Defense. The latter is funding a Lynas downstream processing plant in Texas.

Las Vegas-based MP Materials also has backing from the Pentagon, including a contract to boost heavy rare earths supply.

A selection process will be established to determine which projects — including in extraction, processing and recycling materials — are eligible, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Financing, via Germany’s state-owned KfW development bank, will consist of equity capital to make acquisitions of minority stakes.

Projects in Germany and abroad will “contribute to the security of supply of critical raw materials,” an Economy Ministry spokeswoman said. The ministry didn’t give details on how the state fund would be structured.

Pandemic-triggered supply-chain disruptions across the globe and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine exposed the vulnerability of Europe’s reliance on energy and raw materials for high-tech and green projects. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government pledged to ratchet up efforts to access to critical materials over the longer term.

Raw materials including cobalt, copper, lithium, silicon and rare earth metals are needed to make microchips, wind turbines and batteries for electric vehicles.

As Germany’s parliament approves Scholz’s 2024 budget on Friday, the billion-euro fund is to be set up for four years. Investments will be coordinated with Italian and French initiatives in the raw materials sector, the people said. Policymakers will focus on mineral projects defined as critical in the European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act.

Veronika Grimm, a member of Scholz’s panel of independent economic advisers, said the aim of diversifying raw-material supplies must be a “top priority” for the EU as a whole.

“The raw-material fund can be an element, but it won’t be a enough,” Grimm told Bloomberg.

KfW declined to comment on the plans. The lender is expected to make a statement about its role managing the project at its annual news conference next week on Feb 7. The EU agreed on measures in November under the Critical Raw Materials Act to boost domestic mining and reduce dependency on any one country.

While Germany still has to set up a structure to organize its investments into raw materials, Japan could provide a model. Since 2004, the state-owned Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security has invested in the storage of raw materials, explored reserves, provided loans or guarantees for commodity companies and bought their shares directly.

(By Kamil Kowalcze)

The US Geological Survey’s (USGS) estimates, published late in January, came only a few months after Vietnamese authorities arrested in October corporate executives who were partnering with Western companies to develop rare earths mining projects in Vietnam. There is no clear link between the USGS revision and the arrests.

Rare earths are used in multiple industries, including electric vehicles, auto batteries and renewables, and have several applications in electronic and military products.

Despite having the world’s second-largest deposits, estimated at around 22 million tons of rare earths oxide (REO) equivalent, Vietnam extracted only 1,200 tons in 2022, the statistics from the USGS show, down from 4,300 tons the agency had previously estimated for 2022.

Output fell to just 600 tons last year, according to USGS’s new data, despite Vietnam’s plans to boost output to about 20,000-60,000 tons a year by the end of the decade.

The USGS did not immediately reply to a request for comment about its revised estimates. Vietnam does not publish data on its rare earths mining output nor on its trade of the minerals.

While Vietnam’s estimated output fell, the USGS estimated global rare earths mining production grew to 350,000 tons last year from 300,000 tons in 2022, largely due to an increase in China’s output to 240,000 tons from 210,000 tons as Beijing raised its quotas last year.

Myanmar’s production tripled to 38,000 tons in 2023 from 12,000 tons a year earlier.

Hobbled plans?

Before the arrests over allegations of illegal trading, Vietnam was planning new tenders for mining concessions at its largest rare earths mine, which is still largely untapped, Reuters reported in September, citing an executive at Australia’s mining company Blackstone Minerals Ltd.

Blackstone and Vietnam’s environment ministry, which is in charge of mining projects, did not immediately reply to requests for comment about whether the tenders were still planned.

Australian Strategic Materials, another mining company, had also partnered with VTRE in May for the supply of about 100 tons of rare earths oxides by the end of last year. The company did not immediately reply to a request for comment about the state of that deal.

The United States has agreed to boost cooperation on rare earths with Vietnam, whose large untapped resources are seen as an alternative source of the minerals. China has the world’s largest deposits, with 44 million tons estimated, and dominates the extraction and processing of the critical minerals.

The USGS revised down its estimates of US rare earths reserves to 1.8 million tons from 2.3 million previously estimated. It also halved its estimates for Russia’s deposits to 10 million tons from 21 millions.

The US embassy in Hanoi had no immediate comment.

(By Francesco Guarascio and Khanh Vu; Editing by Martin Petty, Tom Hogue and Sonali Paul)

At the end of 2023, the MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners reached a combined $1.42 trillion, up a healthy, if far from spectacular $48.7 billion over the course of 2023. Mining’s top tier is also worth $330 billion less than in March 2022.

Metal and mineral markets are volatile at the best of times – the nickel, cobalt and lithium price collapse in 2023 was extreme but not entirely unprecedented. Rare earth producers, platinum group metal watchers, iron ore followers, and gold and silver bugs for that matter, have been through worse.

Mining companies have become better at navigating choppy waters and as a whole the majors performed fairly consistently last year despite geopolitical and market turmoil, but within the ranking, 2023 fortunes were made and lost over what seemed like days.

The forced closure of one of the world’s biggest copper mines – and the subsequent collapse of owner First Quantum Minerals stock – served as a stark reminder of the outsized risks miners face over and above market swings.

Panama root canal

After months of protests and political pressure, at the end of November the Panama government ordered the closure of First Quantum Minerals’ Cobre Panama mine following a ruling by the Supreme Court that declared the mining contract for the operation unconstitutional.

Public figures, including climate activist Greta Thunberg and Hollywood actor Leonardo Di Caprio backed the protests and shared a video calling for the “mega mine” to cease operations, which quickly went viral. 

That mining cobre is at the nexus of the green energy transition is clearly an irony lost on those trying to save the world.  FQM is seeking arbitration and completely winding down operations will take time, but a reopening of Cobre Panama is not on the cards. 

From 25th position in the ranking at the end of March 2022 and a valuation well above $20 billion, the November-December sell off saw FQM drop out of the top tier altogether, ending 2023 at number 58 with a market cap below $6 billion. 

Cobre Panama supplied more than 40% of the company’s revenue, and with nickel prices plummeting FQM has also been forced to suspend operations at its Raventhorpe mine in Australia. 

Amid the inevitable takeover rumours now in circulation, shares in the Vancouver-based company have rallied in 2024, but still not enough to reenter the top 50.

No. 12 with a bullet 

If 2023 was an annus horribilis for FQM it was mirabilis for Amman Mineral Internasional. Stock in the Indonesian firm surged by 269% from its July debut in Jakarta to reach a market capitalisation of more than $30 billion at the end of last year – and number 12 in the ranking. 

That valuation is quite an achievement on annual revenue of $2 billion no matter how fat margins are at the company’s Batu Hijau copper and gold mine.  Batu Hijau is the third largest mine worldwide in terms of copper equivalent output (but no match for Cobre Panama when it comes to the orange metal alone)  and has been in production since the turn of the millennium. Amman is also developing the adjacent Elang project on the island of Sumbawa. 

Amman Minerals’ ascent has minted at least six new billionaires and the stock appears to be building on its success in 2024, rising by double digits in January already.

Indonesia’s other major mining IPO, Harita Nickel, was on a different trajectory altogether. After listing in April and raising $672m, the company has had a tough go of it and the stock has shed more than 38% since then as nickel prices continue to decline.

Shiny gold, dull silver, tarnished PGMs

The price of gold hit an all-time record on December 1, 2023.  But bullion’s best ever level passed without the usual fanfare and despite bullish indications for 2024, gold mining stocks did not exactly storm the rankings of the most valuable miners.

Over the course of 2023 gold and royalty companies on the MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners added a collective $20.8 billion in market cap. 

And judging by gold miners’ performance so far this year, gold above $2,000 is not providing enough support. Newmont is already down 17%, Barrick has shed 13% and Agnico Eagle shareholders are 9% poorer. 

The number of precious metals companies in the top 50 has also been relatively stable over the years. With Newmont’s absorption of Newcrest now complete, the open slot was taken up by Kinross, which spent a few years in the wilderness. 

Anglogold Ashanti was just edged out by Jiangxi Copper for position number 50 on the last trading days of 2023, but based on its performance so far in 2024 the London-listed company is already back among the top tier. Indeed Anglogold is the only major gold player in the black year to date.

Silver has not been able to ride gold’s coattails and the top 50 has not had a silver specialist for a few years after Fresnillo dropped out (now at #61) and while Pan American Silver has come close in recent years at the end of last year it made it to #58 only. 

The exit of platinum and palladium majors like Sibanye Stillwater and Impala Platinum, now both valued at less than $4 billion, made space for Royal Gold to reenter at 47 at the end of last year, up from 57th in 2022. 

After a dismal 2023, the sole remaining PGM specialist Anglo American Platinum looks likely to lose more ground this quarter as palladium and platinum prices continue to slide into the new year.

Not too tough at the top 

London-listed Anglo American has had a rough year in part due to its exposure to platinum group metals and control of AngloPlat, and is now valued at $30 billion after peaking at $70 billion in March 2021.  

Were it not for the London-listed company’s iron ore operations, the 40%-plus slump in share value may have been deeper. Rumours that Glencore may be sniffing around now that the Swiss behemoth’s bid for all of Teck Resources has soured is also keeping Anglo from falling further down the rankings .  

Investors in Anglo, with a history going back more than a hundred years on the South African gold and diamond fields, have had a particularly wild ride over the last few years. In January 2016, Anglo’s market cap fell below $5 billion after it came close to suffocating under a pile of debt.  

Against expectations, iron ore seems to be holding above $120 a tonne, Chinese property bankruptcies and Beijing’s tepid stimulus response notwithstanding. 

Iron ore’s resilience despite Chinese troubles has also kept the share prices of the other diversified majors, which make their fattest profits from the steelmaking ingredient, from skidding. 

The top 10 mining companies have been able to keep their share of the total above 50% for a few years now. Not quite the magnificent seven, but size does matter in mining, particularly when access to capital is no longer a headache but a migraine. 

Expectations of another active year of M&A in the sector is likely to make the Top 50 top-heavier, especially now that it’s painfully obvious just how one-commodity companies like the lithium stocks can so easily be derailed. Coal miners’ strong 2023 suggests there are still exceptional minerals that prove the rule.   

Lithium losers 

After defying gravity early on, the combined losses for lithium miners in the top 50 climbed to nearly $30 billion in market cap over the 12 month period. Four counters occupy the worst performance table for 2023. 

The M&A drama surrounding Liontown, Albermarle and Hancock Prospecting turned out to be a soap opera and Chile’s move to take control of its lithium industry now appears far less consequential than feared.

Despite the precipitous decline in lithium prices in 2023, after hitting all time highs above $80,000 a tonne in November 2022, none of the battery metal miners’ stock performance was dire enough to drop out of the Top 50.

The merger of Livent and Allkem to form Arcadium Lithium could in fact up lithium mining’s representation in the ranking to seven should Pilbara Minerals’ January bleeding be stanched. But with lithium prices far from stabilizing, the battery metal’s presence in the top 50 may fade further. 

Pilbara Minerals, which unlike its peers was still able to show share price gains last year,  joined the Top 50 last year, bringing the number of companies based in the Western Australia capital to five, surpassing the tally of Vancouver, BC as the top home base in the ranking. 

With the exit of First Quantum, three mining companies in the top 50 call Vancouver home while the return of Kinross saw the ranks of Toronto-headquartered miners move back up to four.  

Nuclear options

Uranium prices more than doubled during 2023 and recently hit triple digits for the first time in 16 years. The breakthrough for the nuclear fuel comes after a decade in the doldrums following the Fukushima disaster in Japan.

Canada’s Cameco made the best quarterly performer list once again in Q4 and after doubling in market worth in 2023.  The Saskatoon-based company now sits at no 23 in the ranking after jumping 22 places since end-2022.    

The value of shares in Kazatomprom, the world number one uranium producer, topped $10 billion at the end of 2023, placing it at position 38.  Until last year the state-owned Kazakh company was outside earshot of the Top 50 since its dual-listing in London and Astana in 2018.  

None of the smaller uranium companies are likely to pierce the top 50 by themselves, but combinations among the rank and file may edge in when countries aiming to ditch fossil fuels stop thinking they can have their yellowcake and eat it too.

*NOTES:

Source: MINING.COM, Morningstar, GoogleFinance, company reports. Trading data from primary-listed exchange at December 28 2023 to January 2, 2024 where applicable, currency cross-rates January 2, 2024. 

Percentage change based on US$ market cap difference, not share price change in local currency.

As with any ranking, criteria for inclusion are contentious. We decided to exclude unlisted and state-owned enterprises at the outset due to a lack of information. That, of course, excludes giants like Chile’s Codelco, Uzbekistan’s Navoi Mining, which owns the world’s largest gold mine, Eurochem, a major potash firm, and a number of entities in China and developing countries around the world.

Another central criterion was the depth of involvement in the industry before an enterprise can rightfully be called a mining company.

For instance, should smelter companies or commodity traders that own minority stakes in mining assets be included, especially if these investments have no operational component or warrant a seat on the board?

This is a common structure in Asia and excluding these types of companies removed well-known names like Japan’s Marubeni and Mitsui, Korea Zinc and Chile’s Copec. 

Levels of operational or strategic involvement and size of shareholding were other central considerations. Do streaming and royalty companies that receive metals from mining operations without shareholding qualify or are they just specialised financing vehicles? We included Franco Nevada, Royal Gold and Wheaton Precious Metals on the basis of their deep involvement in the industry.

Vertically integrated concerns like Alcoa and energy companies such as Shenhua Energy or Bayan Resources where power, ports and railways make up a large portion of revenues pose a problem. The revenue mix also tends to change alongside volatile coal prices. Same goes for battery makers like CATL which is increasingly moving upstream, but where mining still makes up a small portion of its valuation.  

Another consideration is diversified companies such as Anglo American with separately listed majority-owned subsidiaries. We’ve included Angloplat in the ranking but excluded Kumba Iron Ore in which Anglo has a 70% stake to avoid double counting. Similarly we excluded Hindustan Zinc which is listed separately but majority owned by Vedanta.

Many steelmakers own and often operate iron ore and other metal mines, but in the interest of balance and diversity we excluded the steel industry, and with that many companies that have substantial mining assets including giants like ArcelorMittal, Magnitogorsk, Ternium, Baosteel and many others.

Head office refers to operational headquarters wherever applicable, for example BHP and Rio Tinto are shown as Melbourne, Australia, but Antofagasta is the exception that proves the rule. We consider the company’s HQ to be in London, where it has been listed since the late 1800s.

Please let us know of any errors, omissions, deletions or additions to the ranking or suggest a different methodology.

Now, heading into 2024, what trends can we anticipate in the rare earth industry, and how are global supply chain dynamics evolving outside of China?

The downturn of strategic metals

Although there has been a downward trend in strategic metals prices carrying over from last year to 2024, it’s important to remember the cyclical nature of the mining industry.

Many factors, including economic conditions, technological advancements, and geopolitical events, can influence the status of rare metals, and this recognition is crucial for making informed investment? decisions and navigating the industry’s dynamics effectively. Not only that, but the way these strategic metals are traded can also have an impact.

Suppose traders or firms active in physical commodities trading stockpiles these metals in large amounts driving metals up or several end users exit the market after fully stockpiled for the year– these are factors that can result in significant swings in metal prices.

So, while the current trend may suggest a temporary decline in strategic metals, understanding the underlying factors and  cyclical nature underscores that periods of contraction often pave the way for subsequent phases of growth.

Economic factors and EV demand

Diving further into the factors that have been impacting rare earth elements, it would be remiss not to mention the effects that the current inflationary environment is having. The impact of rising interest rates, most notably in North America, from a near-zero rate environment to 5% has directly contributed to the slowdown in demand for electric vehicles (EVs).

People are more cautious about buying EVs, in part due to the costs but also because manufacturers like Tesla have decreased their prices significantly over the last quarter. As a result, consumers are holding out, wondering if or when they might see yet another decrease. However, it’s not just EVs that need to be considered. There are also many other uses for these critical metals, rare earths for instance are used in military technologies, agriculture, and medical equipment like MRI machines, showcasing their significance in multiple sectors.

China’s ongoing influence

Although there has been a downward trend in strategic metals prices, influenced by a significant slowdown in EV demand, we must also recognize the intricate web of challenges posed by the global supply chain dynamics, especially the substantial influence exerted by China.

While efforts to diversify production outside of China have been making headway, there are still many supply chain complexities to work out, meaning the refining and manufacturing of end products still predominantly revolve around China.

This reliance on China for both rare earth metal production and related technologies remains a pivotal aspect influencing market trends (sometimes for the better, and sometimes not). For example, export restrictions imposed by China led to a support in graphite prices last year, showing their influence even as we move away from their dependence.

Key takeaways

Looking ahead, the goal of many rare earths mining companies is to continue developing robust offshore supply chains that can support not only the mining of these strategic metals but also the refining, processing, and manufacturing processes.

Although we are still 5-10 years out from the total realization of this goal, it’s a step in the right direction for building a healthy supply chain so that the rest of the world can benefit from access to sustainable, conflict-free metals.

(Dr. Luisa Moreno is a Physics Engineer, an analyst in rare earths and president of Defense Metals)

The program, which received little attention after it was announced on a Pentagon website in October, is part of Washington’s broader efforts to jumpstart US production of critical minerals used in weapons manufacturing and the energy transition.

US output lags market leader China partly because attempts to build new American mines can be heavily influenced by commodity price swings. Jervois Global, for example, announced last year it would suspend construction of an Idaho cobalt project due in part to low market prices, even while Chinese cobalt miners – financially backed by Beijing – said they would boost production of the battery metal in a bid for greater market share.

An official rubric by which Washington estimates how much a specific metal should cost, though, could confuse metals markets by creating dueling structures for determining price, according to two sources who were not authorized to speak publicly.

Traditionally, metals prices are set by futures markets and pricing agencies and reflect what buyers are willing to pay and sellers are willing to accept using supply, demand and other factors.

The Pentagon’s work is being run by its Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) division, which was formed in response to the Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite and helped develop the Internet and the mRNA vaccine for Covid-19.

DARPA and the US Geological Survey plan to hire one or more private contractors to develop an artificial intelligence-backed model that would construct a metal’s “structural price” based on where and when it is produced, as well as labor, supply and other costs, according to documents seen by Reuters that describe the program, including a slide deck that DARPA presented last November to prospective contractors.

The DARPA program, known as Open Price Exploration for National Security (OPEN), is intended to boost price transparency for government agencies and commercial entities and offset the risk Washington believes futures markets and pricing agencies pose to national security, according to the documents.

The Pentagon believes commodity purchase transactions are negotiated using “opaque and flawed pricing data” that pose “substantial barriers to US commercial competition,” according to the documents, which referenced both futures exchanges and commercial pricing providers.

In a statement to Reuters on Jan. 16, DARPA said its efforts aim to “remove market opacity that can engender supply chain disruptions” and that the data will be used by government agencies and commercial entities. “The OPEN program is fundamentally about transparency,” a DARPA spokesperson said.

The US Geological Survey deferred comment to DARPA.

The Pentagon’s efforts are not intended to set an official US government metals price or replace the London Metal Exchange (LME) and other futures markets, the sources said.

However, the documents cited the LME’s 2022 nickel pricing fiasco as one of the “endogenous market dynamics and anticompetitive practices [that] can make futures markets a poor source of price information.”

Financial information firm S&P Global and defense contractor Lockheed Martin are among the companies that have applied, according the sources. S&P Global, which publishes benchmark prices for metals and other commodities, did not respond to requests for comment. Lockheed Martin deferred comment to DARPA and the US Geological Survey.

Bids were submitted in late November and a decision on the choice of one or more contractors could come as soon as this month, according to one of the sources.

The AI model will be rolled out in three phases over the course of two years, according to the documents.

OPEN also aims to predict how supply could be affected by unexpected market shocks such as labor strikes, although the contractors have been told not to predict natural disasters or other specific market events, the documents showed.

Market analysts typically estimate that roughly 5% of global production of a metal could be disrupted each year by such unexpected shocks.

‘Revolutionize’ pricing

As part of their presentation to prospective contractors last November, officials at DARPA’s Arlington, Virginia, headquarters described the program’s goal: “Revolutionize the construction and dissemination of price, supply, and demand predictions and forecasts in critical materials markets.”

Anticipating price swings and calculating what might be an appropriate value for a metal could give Pentagon officials a formula to time purchases for national stockpiles, one of the sources said.

The Pentagon this year, for example, plans to buy 1,300 metric tons of lanthanum, used in steel alloys, government records show. But lanthanum, one of the 17 rare earths, is not traded on futures exchanges and China’s control of the sector makes it difficult to determine whether prices offered reflect market fundamentals.

A 2021 spike in the price of coal caused a 200% jump in prices for magnesium that the Pentagon document said “further increased the opacity of the US critical material supply chain.” Magnesium can be produced alongside coal and is used to make missiles and other weaponry.

It is not clear how a US government metals price or supply estimate would be received by mining companies, their customers, and metals exchanges, all of whom have developed the existing market structure over hundreds of years.

Most metal is sold on long term contracts. Consumers, producers and traders often sell their unwanted metal on exchanges such as the LME, a market of last resort where prices are lower than in the physical market.

In the physical market, buyers typically pay a premium that takes into account costs such as those for transport, insurance and import taxes, above the LME price used as a reference.

Several lithium, rare earths, and graphite miners have begun charging premium prices for metals produced outside of China, but those terms are contractually negotiated and not influenced by any government price schema.

The LME said it expects the use of AI to analyze metals supply and demand to grow, but noted that its own prices are based “on real world transactions executed by market users across the globe.”

“The LME’s traded contracts are settled through the physical delivery of metals into our global warehouse network, ensuring LME prices fully reflect any shifts in physical market fundamentals,” a LME spokesperson said in response to questions from Reuters.

Any concerns that a US government “structural price” for a metal could conflict with futures exchanges and pricing providers is “beyond the scope” of OPEN’s aims, a DARPA spokesperson said.

The White House referred requests for comment to DARPA. The US Treasury Department did not respond to requests for comment.

(By Ernest Scheyder, Pratima Desai and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Veronica Brown and Claudia Parsons)

The resources-rich nation is seeking investment from allies in projects to develop minerals critical to green energy and at risk of supply chain disruption, spanning rare earths processing to various cobalt and nickel producing mines and plants.

“Australia’s critical minerals are key to the world’s energy transformation,” said Minister Madeleine King in a statement.

“But we need to attract investment to get these minerals out of the ground, to process them here, to build the batteries, wind turbines and solar panels required make the switch to a lower carbon economy,” she said.

King will be meeting Japan’s trade minister Ken Saito, and South Korean trade and energy minister Duk-geun Ahn, she said in a statement.

The minister is also expected to engage her counterparts on natural gas as Australia develops its future gas policy, given both nations are large customers of the major exporter.

“As Australians … we can’t ignore the role we need to play in providing for the energy security of large economies like Japan, and also others like (South) Korea and China as well as Singapore … the Philippines as well as Malaysia,” King told reporters in Tokyo.

The push for investment comes amid a global downturn in prices for electric vehicle battery materials lithium and nickel, which have been hit by slower-than-expected electric vehicle uptake. For nickel, a flood of Indonesian supply has also hit prices.

Already this year, a string of Australian nickel projects have been iced, including part of BHP’s, opens new tab operations in the state of Western Australia. More are expected as miners report production this week.

King spent last week meeting industry leaders at several round tables in the country’s resources heartland of Western Australia state amid announcements of closures and job cuts.

She pledged support for the sector and said she was determined to ensure Australian miners could compete with cheaper but lower grade minerals produced in less environmentally friendly ways overseas.

“Australia has the potential to become a long-term reliable supplier to Japan of critical minerals and rare earths. Just as Japan helped build Australia’s iron ore and LNG industries, Japan can help Australia’s critical minerals and rare earths industries,” King said in Tokyo.

(By Melanie Burton and Katya Golubkova; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

A paper published in The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment notes that in the short-term, battery-powered electric aircraft will probably mostly be beneficial and used for shorter distances, such as what in Norway is called “fjord-hopping,” meaning shorter flights between deep fjords.

The study, led by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, examined a commercially available battery-electric aircraft with two seats, the Pipistrel Alpha Electro, through a life cycle assessment. The same aircraft is also available as a fossil fuel-powered model, enabling them to directly compare.

The team investigated the entire impact of each aircraft from the raw material extraction to the end of their lives with a functional unit of 1 hour of flight time. Data and records from the aircraft manufacturer informed much of the study.

The scientists considered a wide range of impact categories with a focus on global warming from greenhouse gas emissions, mineral resource scarcity from the use of rare minerals, particulate matter formation from particle emissions, acidification from acidic emissions like nitrogen oxides and ground-level ozone formation from emissions of nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons.

Raw materials

“The key take-home from this study is that small electric aircraft can have a notably lower climate impact – up to 60% less – and other types of environmental impacts than equivalent fossil-fuelled aircraft. However, there is a trade-off regarding mineral resource scarcity – about 50% more, even in the most favourable scenario, mainly due to rare metals in the batteries of the electric aircraft”, Rickard Arvidsson, co-author of the paper, said in a media statement.

As with electric cars, the electric aircraft is comparatively worse from a climate point of view when the plane is brand new since the production of the battery consumes a lot of energy and resources. Then, over time, the relative impact decreases as the electric plane is in use and its benefits are realized – namely, emission-free electric propulsion. The longer the electric plane is used, the better it becomes for the environment, and eventually, a ‘break-even’ point is reached.

After approximately 1,000 flight hours, the electric aircraft overtakes the fossil fuel aircraft in terms of less climate impact, after which the electric aircraft is better for the environment. This is measured in kg CO2 eq/h – carbon dioxide equivalents per flight hour – and is true under optimal conditions, where green energy is used. All use after that thus becomes a “climate benefit,” compared to the conventional aircraft. The estimated lifespan of the aircraft is at least 4,000 hours, or four times as long as the break-even time.

“The lifetime of the lithium-ion batteries, however, would have to be about twice as long for the mineral resource scarcity to be about the same for the electric airplane and the fossil-fuel aircraft,” Anders Nordelöf, senior author of the article, said. “Alternatively, have double the energy storage capacity such that only one of two packs is needed onboard for the same flight time.”
 
In the study, the researchers discuss the further development of batteries as a major step towards reduced lifecycle impacts of electric aircraft. Already today – but after the study was carried out – the manufacturer of the aircraft model has managed to extend the life of the batteries as much as three times. New battery technologies could further improve both climate impacts and mineral resource scarcity.

“There is a constant development of lithium-ion batteries that can improve the environmental performance of the electric aircraft and make it relatively even more preferable than the fossil-fuelled one,” Arvidsson said. “There are also new battery technologies that could be developed and be applicable to electric aircraft in a longer time perspective, such as lithium-sulphur batteries, although these are still in an early phase of technology development.”

According to a paper published in the journal Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering, gadolinium (Gd) is commonly used in contrast agents and is released as a toxic monomer. Previous studies have detected the presence of Gd in both the influent and effluent of wastewater treatment plants. In addition, different types of antibiotics were detected in these waters, with some antibiotic concentrations being detected at mg/L levels.

The article notes that the accumulation of antibiotics in wastewater treatment plants is detrimental to microorganisms and negatively impacts these facilities’ performance.

In the researchers’ view, the combined pollution of REEs and antibiotics in wastewater cannot be ignored, especially in the context of the covid-19 pandemic. Notably, due to the increased risk of bacterial infections, medical institutions need more sulfamethoxazole (SMX) to treat infected patients.

Magnetic resonance imaging enables visualization of pulmonary structures and assessment of covid-19-related lung damage, inflammation, and complications like thrombosis and myocarditis. Gd is a key component of contrast agents in MRI, and the increased demand for MRI detection leads to an increase in the use of Gd. Therefore, Gd and SMX have been extensively used during this pandemic. However, the impact of co-occurring Gd and SMX in wastewater on bacterial resistance in wastewater plants remains unclear.

Superbugs

The Frontiers paper points out that there are similar situations that can be looked at. For example, the long-term use of antibiotics in medical, agricultural, animal husbandry, and aquaculture industries has proven to eventually lead to the dissemination of antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs).

ARGs pose a serious threat to human health and environmental safety. Therefore, many researchers have studied the effects of antibiotics on ARGs in wastewater treatment systems.

Scientists have also noted that heavy metals drive the co-selection of ARGs and heavy-metal-resistant genes (MRGs). Previous research has also reported an increased relative abundance of ARGs and MRGs in heavy metal-polluted environments, and high concentrations of metals could promote multi-metal and multi-antibiotic resistance.

Yet, only a few reports have investigated the effects of Gd on ARGs and MRGs, and the succession and transmission characteristics of resistant genes under combined Gd and antibiotics exposure remain unclear.

Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing can quantify some known ARGs and MRGs. Still, the mobility of ARGs and the correlation with host bacteria are also little understood.

Filling the gap

The work of Kangping Cui’s team fills the knowledge gap.

In the new study, the group investigated the co-occurrence of Gd and SMX in wastewater pollution by applying metagenomics to analyze the mechanisms of changes in ARGs, MRGs and genera in an activated sludge system.

This study offers an in-depth and new understanding of the mechanisms underlying the changes and interactions between antibiotic-resistant genes and heavy-metal-resistant genes in activated sludge, providing technical support for the removal of ARGs and MRGs in wastewater treatment plants.

The findings demonstrated that single SMX alone and co-occurrence of SMX and Gd(III) resulted in an increase in the abundance of ARGs, while most MRGs decreased in abundance.

At the same time, the co-occurrence of sulfamethoxazole and Gd(III) significantly promoted the HGT of antibiotic-resistant genes or ARGs and heavy-metal-resistant genes or MRGs. Gd(III) alone caused a decrease in ARGs and MRGs, whereas the abundance of Hg MRGs was increased.

Compared to core heavy-metal-resistant genes, core antibiotic-resistant genes exert a greater negative effect in the presence of Gd or sulfamethoxazole alone.

Streptomyces, Pseudomonas, and Thauera were abundant under sulfamethoxazole exposure and may be potential hosts for ARGs and MRGs. The bacterial community was sensitive to single Gd(III) stress.

The correlations among ARGs, MRGs, mobile genetic elements (MGEs), and the bacterial community were discussed in this study, suggesting a positive relationship between internal ARGs and MGEs, while positive and negative relations were found in MRGs. Moreover, most ARGs and MRGs were closely related to MGEs.

The comic strip, published on Sunday on the State Security Ministry’s official WeChat account, showed security officers uncovering “suspicious” exploration and mapping activities by a group of people supposedly doing survey work for real estate development.

No foreign government or agencies were named in the comic strip, and the ministry did not specify any measures to counter foreign “interest” in China’s rare earths.

The ministry could not be reached for further comment.

China, the world’s largest producer of rare earths accounting for nearly 90% of global refined output, last year introduced restrictions on exports of the elements germanium and gallium, used widely in the chip-making sector, citing the need to protect national security and interests.

It also banned the export of technology to make rare earth magnets, in addition a ban on technology to extract and separate rare earths.

The restrictions have fanned fears that the supply of rare earths might ignite tensions with the West, particularly the United States, which accuses China of using economic coercion to influence other countries. Beijing denies the claim.

The United States has previously imposed restrictions on China’s access to advanced chips and chip-making tools that could fuel breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and sophisticated computers for its military.

Rare earths, used widely in lasers, military equipment and consumer electronics, have grown in demand along with the rapid development of new energy vehicles, wind power and inverter air conditioners.

“As technology grows in leaps and bounds, some primary minerals have become rare strategic resources,” a police character in the comic said.

“China boasts rich resources of these minerals. Overseas organizations have already had their eyes on them.”

Set in fictional Xishan Mining Area – described as an area rich in critical and scarce mineral deposits that could bring breakthroughs in super-semiconductor technology – the comic depicts two officers that were sent to the area undercover as lost hikers to gather information.

State-controlled Global Times described the comic as underscoring the importance of safeguarding key mineral resources as China-US trade frictions and global geopolitical tensions have turned the global competition for rare earths into an issue of national security.

The newspaper said the United States, Japan and the European Union, among others, have for a long time “coveted China’s rare earth mineral resources”.

“They have even resorted to infiltration, bribery, and espionage to achieve their goals,” Global Times said, quoting Li Baiyang, an associate professor of intelligence studies at Nanjing University.

(By Liz Lee and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Miral Fahmy)

Rare earth prices during the quarter extended declines as demand in China, especially in the country’s appliance sector, fell with the construction downturn, said Lynas, the world’s largest producer of rare-earths outside China.

The miner said its sales fell 51.7% to A$112.5 million ($74.06 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, from A$232.7 million in the year-ago period. It missed Macquarie’s estimate of A$117.8 million.

“(The) major issue for the company at present is the commodity price trajectory and demand in China,” said analyst Dan Morgan of Barrenjoey.

“There wasn’t anything positive the company said on demand to change the prevailing market mood.”

Lynas said it has largely completed construction at its Kalgoorlie rare earths processing plant, which will also feed mixed rare earth carbonate to the new Lynas Seadrift facility in Texas serving the US Department of Defense (DoD).

Lynas has been upgrading its Malaysian processing facilities to increase separation capacity to 10,500 tons per year for neodymium and praseodymium, used in magnets in sectors from electrified transport to defence.

The firm halted all Malaysian operations, barring one, in mid-November.

Its expansion project at the Mt Weld mine in Western Australia remains on track, Lynas said, after a completed drilling program showed extensive rare-earth mineralization around the mine.

Lynas estimated March quarter production at around 1500 tons, above its previous estimate of around 900 tons.

Shares eased 3.4% to A$5.75 to hit their lowest since July 20, 2021, as of 0009 GMT.

Lynas raked in an average second-quarter selling price of A$28.70 per kilogram (kg) for its product range, sharply below the A$58.40 per kg last year.

($1 = 1.5191 Australian dollars)

(By Shivangi Lahiri, Rishav Chatterjee and Sneha Kumar; Editing by Richard Chang, Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Shri Navaratnam)

In the article, Victor Maus, a researcher in the Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability Research Group of the IIASA Advancing Systems Analysis Program, and Tim Werner from the University of Melbourne, point out that even though in recent decades there has been increased exploitation of lithium for batteries, cobalt for smartphones, or neodymium for wind turbines, scientists, policymakers and even industry leaders know very little about what’s going on in the mining sector on a global basis and the extent to which the activity is causing deforestation, biodiversity loss, air, water and soil pollution, human health hazards, community displacement and the loss of land and livelihoods.

“Independent research is essential to decipher the extent of risks posed by mining and its impacts on the environment and communities all over the globe, as well as to help identify major challenges and build public trust,” Maus said in a media statement.

The reasons for such data scarcity, which the researchers say has meant that about half of the world’s mining impacts remain undocumented, range from limited corporate reporting to disused, informal, or illegal sites.

Maus and Werner, thus, propose four steps to address this challenge. This includes acknowledging and addressing the underestimation of mining impacts and risks worldwide; improving data gathering and sharing practices among scientists; enhancing corporate transparency in the mining sector; and utilizing advanced techniques like remote sensing and artificial intelligence to fill data gaps.

“The urgency and scale of this problem cannot be overstated. With the global appetite for minerals expected to rise sharply in the coming decades, especially for clean energy technologies, comprehensive and transparent data on mining impacts is critical,” the paper’s authors said. “We can’t manage what we can’t measure.”

Attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Silveira met with the Saudi ministers of investments, Khalid Al-Falih, and industry and mining, Bandar Alkhorayef.

“Last night, I had a bilateral meeting with the minister of investment and the minister of mining from Saudi Arabia to discuss essential investments for Brazil in energy transition, as this is our great vocation,” Silveira told CNN.

Silveira said he had discussed the energy transition “vigorously” with the Saudis, and representatives from the Kingdom expressed their interest in investing in the energy and mining sectors in Brazil.

“Brazil is recognized for its mineral potential, our territorial expanse, natural wealth, and critical minerals. Rare earths are extremely crucial for energy transition,” he noted.

In 2023, Manara Minerals, a joint venture between the Saudi state mining company Ma’aden and the Public Investment Fund, acquired a 10% stake in Vale Base Metals, the basic metals subsidiary of the Brazilian company, for approximately $3 billion.

Saudi Arabia recently signed memorandums of understanding for mining collaborations with Egypt, Russia, Morocco and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The country also announced a $182 million mineral exploration incentive program as part of efforts to build an economy that does not rely mostly on oil. Saudi Arabia has vast reserves of phosphate, gold, copper and bauxite.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed a devolution agreement in the Nunavut capital Iqaluit with Premier P.J. Akeeagok, granting the territory the right to collect royalties that would otherwise go to the federal government.

Nunavut, a region of growing strategic importance as climate change makes shipping lanes and resources more accessible, covers 810,000 square miles (2.1 million square km) but has a population of only 40,000. An almost complete lack of infrastructure means operating costs are exorbitant.

“We can now bring decision-making about our land and waters home. It means that we, the people most invested in our homeland, will be the ones managing our natural resources,” Akeeagok said in a statement.

Challenges include harsh weather, lack of infrastructure, high costs, major social problems and a largely unskilled and undereducated Inuit aboriginal workforce.

Nunavut, created in 1999, was the only one of Canada’s three northern territories that had not negotiated devolution. Talks on the agreement started in October 2014.

Companies active in Nunavut include Agnico-Eagle Mines, operator of the territory’s only working gold mine.

Nunavut is home to some of the minerals critical for battery production. Canada has pledged billions in incentives to woo companies involved in all levels of the electric vehicle supply chain as the world seeks to cut carbon emissions.

But operating mines can be a complex affair in Nunavut, where some communities are concerned about potential pollution.

In 2022, Ottawa rejected a request by Baffinland Iron Mine Corp – part-owned by ArcelorMittal – to double production at its Mary River iron ore mine in the north of Nunavut, citing the environmental impact.

In 2020, Canada rejected Shandong Gold Mining’s bid for an indebted local gold producer amid concerns about a Chinese state-owned entity operating in the Arctic.

(By Natalie Maerzluft and David Ljunggren; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Sandra Maler)

The permit, the first large-scale mining licence awarded in Uganda, allows Ionic to engage in supply chain and offtake discussions. It also paves the way for the company to make a final investment decision, expected for later this year, with first production in 2026.

Located about 40 km east of the regional centre of Jinja and 120 km east of the capital city Kampala, the Makuutu project comprises six licences. The asset hosts heavy rare earth oxides, which are easily extracted by applying rudimentary extraction and processing methods, such as open pit mining and heap desorption, the company said.

Ionic Technologies International, a 100% owned UK subsidiary acquired in 2022, has developed processes for the separation and recovery of rare earths from mining ore concentrates and recycled permanent magnets. The unit is focusing on the commercialization of the technology, with a demonstration plant at Makuutu on track for production for Q1 2024.

The Ugandan Directorate of Geological Survey and Mines (DGSM) had previously backed the project.

“The formal award of the mining licence in Uganda reinforces the Makuutu Heavy Rare Earth project as one of the world’s largest and most advanced development-ready heavy rare earth element assets,” managing director Tim Harrison, said in the statement.

“Progress continues to be made at Makuutu’s Demonstration Plant, which will also be critical in de-risking the commercialization of the project through the production of value added, mixed rare earth carbonate for our partners to qualify and validate,” Harrison said.

The announcement comes after the company increased in December its stake in Rwenzori Rare Metals, owner of the project, from 60% to 94%. The company is also in talks with holders of the remaining 6% ownership.

Ionic Rare Earths expects the mine to run for a minimum of 35 years, producing a 71% rich magnet and heavy rare earth carbonate product basket, but said the asset presents significant potential for scale up through additional tenements. 

Shares in Ionic trade at A2.2¢, giving the company a market capitalization of A$103.6 million ($68m).

The Tribunal in an interim decision has ordered the company’s unit Greenland Minerals A/S (GMAS) to clarify within a month if Energy Transition will provide an indefinite demand guarantee of 25 million Danish krone ($3.65 million).

The tribunal’s order pertains to an application filed by the governments of Greenland and Denmark in March last year, seeking payment security for their legal costs from Energy Transition should the Tribunal rule in their favour.

The Tribunal, however, has also stated that it was “not certain that the claimant will be ordered to pay legal costs, let alone full costs, even if the defendants win the case”, Energy Transition said.

“The company has in excess of A$17 million ($11.15 million) in cash reserves and has the capacity to meet the order for security from existing funds, if necessary,” Energy Transition’s managing director Daniel Mamadou said.

Energy Transition, formerly Greenland Minerals, has been fighting for the Kvanefjeld rare earths project licence since late 2021. More than 1 billion metric tons of mineral resources have been identified in the Kvanefjeld project area, with ore estimates of 108 million tonnes.

($1 = 6.8427 Danish crowns)

($1 = 1.5251 Australian dollars)

(By Shivangi Lahiri; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

With a targeted annual production equivalent to almost 10% of current global REE production, the project has the potential to become a significant supplier of rare earth elements.

The agreement calls for Defense Metals and the band to collaborate on the design of the Wicheeda project to assure the band’s interests and priorities are addressed in the planning and design of future feasibility studies and environmental assessments.

Budgets and work plans will be developed co-operatively and incorporated into the process.

Defense Metals will also make an upfront payment to the McLeod Lake band to fund certain costs the band will incur in participating in review activities and support band members who seek post-secondary training in a mining-related field.

The McLeod Lake band has also agreed to participate in a non-brokered private placement by purchasing approximately 2.6 million common shares of Defense Metals for C$0.26 per share for a total of C$665,026.

The Wicheeda deposit contains measured and indicated resources of 342 million tonnes grading 2.02% total rare earth oxides (TREO), containing 699,000 tonnes of oxides. The inferred resource is 11.1 million tonnes at 1.02% TREO, containing 113,000 tonnes of oxides.

A feasibility study on the project is expected to begin later this year.