6 Top Rare Earth Production Countries
2016-09-13

In 2015, many rare earth prices were hit hard. Prices for commonly oversupplied rare earths — such as cerium and lanthanum oxide — were on the downtrend, but the more in-demand phosphor and magnet rare earth materials were hit hard as well.

 

That means a challenging year for rare earth juniors, and for companies targeting rare earth production outside of China in general. Molycorp (OTCMKTS:MCPIQ), once North America’s only producing rare earths miner, filed for bankruptcy protection last summer and shuttered its Mountain Pass operations later in the year. Meanwhile, China remains the world’s largest rare earth production country, responsible for the vast majority of production worldwide.

Still China isn’t the only country producing rare earth elements (REEs) and given the important role of the rare earth metals in all aspects of modern technology, it’s worth taking a look at who else is on the list of top producers.

The belows are the top six rare earth-producing countries based on rare earth production data of 2015, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS):

 

1. China

Mine Production: 105,000 tons

China dominates rare earth mineral production to such a degree that its export practices were recently challenged by the US European Union and Japan, resulting in a WTO ruling against the country’s rare earth export quotas in 2014.

In the past, China has only exported 31,000 tons of its rare earth production. While the country claimed that the limitation was aimed at environmental protection, the WTO ruled that it represented an unfair export restriction that allowed China to control global rare earth prices.

Still, China continues to stockpile the minerals, and the country is expected to continue to be the world’s largest holder of rare earths well into the future. While China was forced to scrap its rare earth export quotas last year, the country kept internal production quotas, revamped its domestic production tax and axed rare earth export tariffs, which helped to bring rare earth prices down.

2. Australia

Mine Production: 10,000 tons

Australia boosted its rare earth production to a whopping 10,000 tons last year, up from just 8,000 tons in 2014. The country is sitting on the world’s third-largest known rare earth reserves. Australian rare earth mining has only been underway since 2007, according to Geoscience Australia, and the country is poised to increase output going forward.

Australia based Lynas Corporation (ASX:LYC) is now the only operating rare earth miner outside of China. It operates the Mt Weld mine and concentration plant in Australia, as well as a rare earth refining and processing plant in Malaysia.

3. United States

Mine Production: 4,100 tons

While US rare earth production has increased over the past decade, its output is still dwarfed by China’s. As mentioned above, Molycorp’s Mountain Pass mine was the only producing rare earth mine in the country, and that was put on care and maintenance last year after the company filed for bankruptcy protection. Overall, the US saw its rare earth production drop from 5,400 tons in 2014 to 4,100 tons in 2015.

There are several other rare earth deposits spread throughout the US in varying states of development, but none currently in production.

 

4. Russia

Mine Production: 2,500 tons

In 2013, Reuters reported a $1 billion investment into rare earth production. Russia’s Rostec stated at the time that it expected to be able to meet Russian rare earth demand by 2017, and increased production was expected to start by 2015. However, Russian rare earth production stayed flat in 2015 at 2,500 tons.

Russian companies are also targeting new extraction techniques to recover rare earths from uranium ore, according to a report from Russia Beyond the Headlines. Since rare earth elements are difficult to mine and extract from mined material, new processing techniques can have a profound impact on production.

5. Thailand

Mine Production: 1,100 tons

Thailand raised production of rare earth minerals by 300 tons in 2015. Rare earth reserves in the country are not currently known, but the country remains a significant player in the second-tier group of rare earth-producing countries that below China.

6. Malaysia

Mine Production: 200 tons

Malaysia is home to the world’s largest rare earth refinery, Lynas Corporation’s Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP). As mentioned above, the LAMP facility handles refining duties for Lynas’s mines in Australia. Despite political issues that delayed the plant’s opening in 2013, the LAMP facility has made Malaysia become an much important player in the world of rare earth minerals.

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