Key Takeaways:
(Bloomberg) -- The Western push to break China’s stranglehold on the global rare earths market is gaining momentum, with Australian miner Lynas Rare Earths reporting a 33 percent surge in production as it expands its Malaysian processing operations to meet growing demand from partners including the Pentagon.
"China has built its success on executing a clear industrial plan -- it takes us to be serious about it," Lynas CEO Amanda Lacaze told AFP, emphasizing that countering Beijing's 90 percent market share requires "discipline, focus and clear planning."
Lynas, the world's largest non-Chinese producer, reported total rare earth oxide (REO) production of 9,608 tons for the nine months ending March 2026, a 33 percent increase year-over-year. This included 5,403 tons of Neodymium-Praseodymium (NdPr), a critical magnet material, which saw a 22 percent production rise, according to company filings. The increased output drove revenues up 80 percent to $485 million for the period.
This production ramp-up comes as the U.S. Department of Defense accelerates efforts to build a secure, domestic supply chain. The Pentagon's strategy involves direct agreements with producers like Lynas, which recently signed a letter of intent for a four-year supply deal with the U.S. government, featuring a floor price of $110 per kilogram for NdPr oxide.
Global concerns over China's dominance intensified after Beijing leveraged its control over the critical minerals during the U.S.-China trade war, causing significant disruptions. Rare earths are indispensable for a wide range of modern technologies, from smartphones and electric vehicles to sophisticated defense systems like fighter jets and the hardware powering artificial intelligence.
Lynas's facility in Kuantan, Malaysia, is now the world's largest single rare earths processing plant outside of China. It refines raw materials from the high-grade Mt Weld mine in Western Australia. The company recently achieved a milestone with the first commercial production of separated heavy rare earths like Dysprosium and Terbium outside of China in decades, further diversifying the ex-China supply.
In parallel, U.S.-based MP Materials is scaling its operations at the Mountain Pass mine in California, the only fully integrated rare earth production facility in North America. The company produced a record 50,692 metric tons of REO in concentrate in 2025, a 12 percent increase from the prior year.
Backed by U.S. government funding, MP Materials is also expanding its downstream capabilities. The company is constructing a second magnet manufacturing facility in Texas, which, combined with its existing capacity, will bring its total U.S. magnet production to an estimated 10,000 metric tons per year by 2028, directly serving defense and commercial customers like General Motors.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
