<U.S. Rare Earth Supply Chain>

Because China expanded its rare-earth export control list to 12 items, which in turn made Trump-baby furious and sent U.S. stocks plunging, major social platforms have been vigorously discussing #稀土 these past few days—truly unprecedented. Longtime friends should know we’ve been following rare earths for quite a while, so here are a few thoughts to help newer friends get a general understanding～

Rare earths (Rare Earth) may be called “rare,” but they’re not rare at all—their reserves are even greater than gold. They have a very wide range of applications, including vehicle motors, drones, robots, consumer electronics, aerospace, and defense systems.

According to data from the International Energy Agency, about 60% of the world’s rare-earth mining output comes from China, but more importantly, at the processing stage China controls 90% of capacity.

We can briefly list the rare earth #從礦到磁 (“from mine to magnet”) process as follows:

1. Mining

- The only rare-earth mine in the U.S. that is commercially operating is #MP’s Mountain Pass

- #LYSDY owns the Mt Weld (Australia) mine to supply light and heavy rare earths

- #USAR’s Round Top project is under development but not yet in commercial operation

- #NB’s Elk Creek project is under development but not yet in commercial operation

2. Beneficiation/Concentration

- #MP completes crushing, grinding, and beneficiation at the mine site and runs a hydrometallurgical process

- #LYSDY conducts beneficiation at the mine site via filtration, grinding, and flotation

- #USAR has successfully concentrated gallium, uranium, heavy rare earths, and light rare earths

3. Cracking/Leaching

- #MP can perform wet cracking and leaching on concentrates for extraction and separation

- #UUUU is the only company in the U.S. capable of processing monazite cracking/leaching technology

- #USAR is planning a pilot plant to advance heap leaching and hydrometallurgy

- #NB plans to use a hydrometallurgical process to treat minerals

- #LYSDY has Australia’s first downstream rare-earth processing facility

4. Separation & Refining

- #MP focuses mainly on light rare earths, producing separated products such as NdPr

- #UUUU is a leading U.S. producer of rare-earth oxides and is piloting heavy rare-earth separation

- #NB is still conducting technical and economic analysis, aiming to produce separated oxides

- #LYSDY has received U.S. Department of Defense funding to support the development of heavy rare-earth separation capabilities

- #LYSDY has the world’s largest single rare-earth separation plant in Malaysia

5. Precipitation/Calcination into Oxides

- #MP mainly produces NdPr oxide

- #UUUU’s NdPr oxide output has been certified by South Korea’s largest drive-motor manufacturer

- #UUUU is piloting heavy rare-earth separation and has achieved preliminary results

- #USAR can produce high-purity heavy rare-earth oxides

- #LYSDY can produce separated light and heavy rare-earth oxides

6. Magnet Manufacturing

- Noveon Magnetics is currently the only operating sintered NdFeB manufacturer in the U.S.

- #MP is currently trial-producing automotive-grade sintered NdFeB permanent magnets

- #USAR expects the Stillwater magnet plant to begin commercial operation in Q1 next year

One possible reason the U.S. lacks processing capacity is that “processing” carries a risk of heavy pollution; the U.S. is unwilling to bear the risks of pollution and radioactive waste generated during processing. So even if it has the ore, it will mine it, send it to China for processing, and then buy back the finished products.

By contrast, Papa Xi’s China has a complete vertically integrated industrial chain, and it has pursued policies of sacrificing the environment and lowering costs to achieve technological maturity and cost advantages. China also happens to have abundant rare-earth resources, making its dominance in setting the terms of the rare-earth industry extremely strong.

But Trump-baby may not care as much about pollution risks. And he probably also hates the feeling of being held by the throat by China, so I believe the U.S. government will continue investing in the rare-earth supply chain, accelerating efforts to narrow the #龐大 gap with China as much as possible.

#以上只是紀錄沒有買賣建議

#歡迎大家討論以及補充

From Beimi! This is a great piece—why does uncle love MP so much..