oleocene.org

Lynas Rare Earths posts sharp rise in annual profit

Reuters | August 25, 2026 |

Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC) reported a sharp rise in annual profit on Wednesday, supported by record average selling prices of rare-earths oxide and robust demand.

The largest rare-earths producer outside China logged a net profit after tax of A$222.4 million ($159.31 million) for the year ended June 30, compared with A$8 million a year earlier.

That missed a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of A$242.5 million.

($1 = 1.3961 Australian dollars)

Terres rares : comment la France s’implique dans la chaîne de valeur d’un projet au Malawi

Agence Ecofin Emiliano Tossou 03 sept 2026

La domination chinoise sur le raffinage des terres rares pousse l’Europe à diversifier ses sources et à reconstruire des capacités industrielles. Le projet Kangankunde qui doit entrer en production au Malawi fin 2026, peut s’insérer dans cette recomposition.

La France se rapproche de la chaîne de valeur construite autour de Kangankunde par l’intermédiaire du groupe Carester. La compagnie australienne Lindian Resources, propriétaire de cette future mine malawite de terres rares, a en effet annoncé jeudi 3 septembre, un accord avec le groupe français qui doit apporter sa technologie à son dispositif de transformation et dispose, en France, d’une usine appelée à recevoir certains des produits issus de cette chaîne.

Les terres rares regroupent 17 métaux devenus stratégiques pour de nombreuses technologies, notamment parce que certains d’entre eux entrent dans la fabrication d’aimants permanents utilisés dans les véhicules électriques, les éoliennes, l’électronique ou encore certaines applications de défense. C’est le cas du néodyme, du praséodyme, du dysprosium et du terbium.

Pour valoriser ces éléments, Lindian construit une chaîne passant par le Kazakhstan. Le concentré de monazite produit à Kangankunde pourra alimenter son complexe de Stepnogorsk où Carester participe à l’étude d’une unité capable de séparer 8 000 tonnes d’oxydes de terres rares par an.

Le groupe français doit y apporter sa technologie et son expertise jusqu’à la mise en service. Surtout, Carester n’intervient pas seulement comme fournisseur de technologie : un accord d’approvisionnement de dix ans prévoit que des produits de terres rares lourdes fabriqués à Stepnogorsk soient achetés par le groupe français pour alimenter Caremag, sa future usine de séparation et de recyclage située à Lacq, dans le sud-ouest de l’hexagone.

106 millions d’euros de l’État français

L’usine française donne au partenariat une dimension stratégique pour Paris. L’État a engagé 106 millions d’euros (123,2 millions $) pour soutenir Caremag, à travers des subventions, des avances remboursables et le crédit d’impôt Industrie verte. À ces fonds s’ajoutent 110 millions d’euros apportés par les japonais JOGMEC et Iwatani, portant à 216 millions d’euros les financements annoncés pour le projet. Caremag doit commencer à fonctionner à partir de 2027 et vise notamment une production annuelle d’environ 600 tonnes d’oxydes de dysprosium et de terbium, soit, selon Lindian, environ 15 % de la production mondiale.

L’investissement répond à une dépendance industrielle devenue stratégique. Paris veut reconstruire sur son territoire des capacités de séparation de terres rares, une étape de la chaîne largement dominée par la Chine, et vise d’ici 2030 une production française équivalente à 10 % de la demande mondiale de terres rares lourdes et à 25 % des besoins européens en terres rares légères. L’Union européenne poursuit la même logique : son règlement sur les matières premières critiques fixe notamment un objectif de 40 % de transformation dans l’UE et veut limiter à 65 % la dépendance envers un seul pays tiers.

Reste à déterminer jusqu’où Kangankunde alimentera effectivement cette stratégie française. L’accord d’achat signé avec Carester concerne pour l’instant des terres rares lourdes issues de matières kazakhes, tandis qu’une partie de la production malawite est déjà destinée à l’australien Iluka. Le démarrage de Kangankunde, les conclusions de l’étude de l’usine kazakhe et la mise en service de Caremag à partir de 2027 permettront de déterminer la place que le Malawi prendra dans l’approvisionnement français.

Greenland Mines closes acquisition of Sarfartoq rare earth magnet project

Staff Writer | September 2, 2026

Greenland Mines (Nasdaq: GRML) said it has closed the aquisition of the Sarfartoq project from Neo Performance Materials for $35 million., bringing the the rare earth project into its mining portfolio.


The closing follows Greenland Mines’ release of an independent Initial Assessment for Sarfartoq, which demonstrated positive project economics.

The project has an estimated pre-tax net present value (NPV) of approximately $2.05 billion and a pre-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 118.6%, including Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources.

The Initial Assessment is based entirely on the ST1 deposit, which occupies under 1% of the 191-square-kilometer Sarfartoq mineral exploration license, with five additional known rare earth occurrences along the approximately 32-kilometer outer ring structure remaining largely untested, Greenland Mines said.

The company has called the project one of the island’s “most advanced and compelling rare earth projects,” citing its high-grade nature and favorable Arctic logistics.

Located roughly 60 km from Kangerlussuaq in the southeast, the project is the site of a carbonatite-hosted deposit strongly enriched in neodymium-praseodymium, widely used to manufacture high-strength NdFeB permanent magnets.

The project carries a historic NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate and a Preliminary Economic Assessment, is supported by more than 15 years of exploration work and over 23,000 meters of drilling.

“The Sarfartoq acquisition is closed, and one of the Western world’s top-tier upstream rare earth magnet projects is now a Greenland Mines asset,” Greenland Mines president Dr. Bo Møller Stensgaard said in a news release.

“At 2025 consumption levels, the NdPr oxide we plan to produce from ST1 alone would represent roughly a third of all NdPr oxide refined outside China, in every one of the project’s nine scheduled operating years — and ST1 forms only a small part of a much larger system. Our technical team is back on the ground at Sarfartoq this month, and we move immediately from acquisition to further resource growth development.”

Greenland Mines said it intends to move directly into the next phase of Sarfartoq’s development, including targeted infill drilling, pilot-scale metallurgical test work, mine engineering planning and continued environmental and social baseline studies, advancing the project toward a pre-feasibility study.

EXIM eyes up to $750 million financing for Aclara rare-earth facility

Reuters | September 4, 2026 |

Aclara Resources said on Friday the U.S. Export-Import Bank had issued a letter of interest indicating it may provide up to $750 million in financing for the miner’s planned rare-earth separation, metals and alloys facility in Louisiana.

The development comes as the U.S. seeks to strengthen domestic critical minerals supply chains and reduce its reliance on China for rare-earth processing.

Potential financing could cover up to $750 million of project costs with a repayment tenor of up to 15 years under EXIM’s Make More in America initiative, Aclara said.

Project Dynamo is planned to include rare-earth separation, metals and alloys production capabilities at the Port of Vinton, Louisiana.

The company said the facility will process rare-earth materials from its South American assets into individual rare-earth oxides, including neodymium-praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium.

Aclara is seeking to build an integrated mine-to-alloy rare-earth supply chain serving industries including electric vehicles, robotics, advanced technologies, power generation and AI infrastructure.

The company said the Louisiana facility is expected to be construction-ready by the end of 2026, adding that EXIM’s interest remains subject to approvals and does not represent a final financing commitment.

Defense Metals drills 6% rare earths in BC

By Canadian Mining Journal Staff August 31, 2026


The Wicheeda camp near Prince George, B.C. Credit: Defense Metals

Resource-conversion drilling at Defense Metals’ (TSXV: DEFN) Wicheeda rare earths project in British Columbia has returned results as strong as 65 metres grading about 3% total rare earth oxides (TREO).

That interval, in hole WI26-96, from 61 metres depth included 20.3 metres at 6.1% TREO, the company reported Monday. Another highlight, in hole WI26-93, cut across the southern margin of the Wicheeda deposit, and returned 184 metres grading 1.7% TREO from 91.6 metres depth, including 57 metres at 2.5% TREO.

"We're exceptionally pleased that all eleven drill holes reported in today's news release intersected significant widths of high to moderate grade rare earth element mineralization within the pit confines defined by the 2025 preliminary feasibility study and are expected to contribute positively to a resource classification uplift,” Defense Metals’ Vice-President of Projects Robin Jones said.

Advanced project

The results bolster Wicheeda’s potential as one of Canada’s more advanced and accessible projects pursuing rare earths, essential for their use in permanent magnets, defence applications and clean energy technologies. Unlike several of the country’s largest rare earth deposits, which are in remote northern regions, Wicheeda is road-accessible and sits near power, rail and gas infrastructure, about 80 km northeast of Prince George, B.C.

Discounted at 8%, Wicheeda has an after-tax net present value of $1 billion and a post-tax internal rate of return of 19%, with initial capital costs of $1.4 billion, according to a preliminary feasibility study released in February, 2025. It could produce 31,900 tonnes annually of TREO concentrates over a 15-year life, based on proven and probable reserves of 25.4 million tonnes grading 2.43% TREO for about 617,000 tonnes of TREO.

Additional noteworthy results from the 5,345-metre program were in hole WI26-100, which cut about 149 metres grading 1.55% TREO from near surface, including 85 metres at 2.4% TREO.

Hole WI26-102 returned 73.4 metres grading 2.6% TREO from about 6 metres depth, including 34.3 metres at 3.2% TREO.

$16M backing

Defense secured $16.7 million from private placements last October and November which it plans to use for metallurgical work and for starting a feasibility study. In March, it received conditional approval for up to $1.8 million from Natural Resources Canada’s Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund.

A proposed $346.6 million Export Development Canada loan, announced last year, remains at the non-binding expression-of-interest stage.

Shares of Defense Metals fell about 3% to 15¢ apiece Monday morning in Toronto. That gave the company a market capitalization of about C$61.2 million. The stock has traded in a 12-month range of 11¢ to 43¢.

Malawi : l’ambition d’une production de terres rares progresse sur la mine Kasiya

Agence Ecofin 10 sept 2026

En juillet dernier, Sovereign Metals a annoncé vouloir destiner la production de la future mine de graphite et de rutile Kasiya aux États-Unis. Un choix stratégique alors que Washington cherche à diversifier ses sources de minerais critiques, notamment pour réduire sa dépendance en terres rares.

L’exploitation de terres rares, en complément du graphite et du rutile jusqu’ici prévus, franchit une nouvelle étape sur le projet Kasiya, au Malawi. Mercredi 9 septembre, son opérateur australien Sovereign Metals a publié une étude économique exploratoire consacrée à ce volet, qui évalue à environ 29 millions USD l’investissement supplémentaire nécessaire pour valoriser des ressources minérales contenant 69 000 tonnes de monazite.

D’après son étude de faisabilité définitive (DFS) publiée en avril dernier, Kasiya est appelé à devenir une mine capable de produire 222 000 tonnes de rutile et 275 000 tonnes de graphite par an sur une durée de vie initiale de 25 ans, moyennant un investissement de 727 millions USD.

Mais depuis plusieurs mois, Sovereign Metals étudie aussi la possibilité d’extraire des terres rares en tant que sous-produits. Le potentiel a en effet été identifié dans la monazite présente dans les résidus issus du traitement du minerai de graphite et de rutile.

La nouvelle étude publiée donne désormais une première traduction économique à cette possibilité. Sovereign Metals prévoit d’ajouter au schéma de développement existant un circuit dédié à la récupération et à la séparation de la monazite, ainsi que les installations nécessaires à la production d’un concentré de terres rares. Le dispositif ne nécessiterait ni nouvelle mine ni nouveau circuit de traitement en amont, ce qui limite l’investissement additionnel à environ 29 millions USD. À terme, le groupe estime pouvoir produire environ 2 626 tonnes par an de concentré de terres rares (REC) à base de monazite. Cette production générerait une valeur actuelle nette (VAN) avant impôts d’environ 722 millions USD sur plus de 23 ans. Son intégration au projet porterait ainsi la VAN totale de Kasiya à quelque 2,9 milliards USD, en incluant les activités de graphite et de rutile.

Au-delà de ces perspectives économiques, l’ajout des terres rares donne aussi une nouvelle dimension stratégique au projet malawite. Sovereign Metals a d’ailleurs rebaptisé Kasiya comme un projet de minerais critiques, afin de refléter cette diversification de la production. Le développement intervient alors que la compagnie entend faire des États-Unis et de leurs alliés stratégiques des marchés prioritaires pour les futurs produits de la mine, dans un contexte où Washington recherche de nouvelles sources d’approvisionnement en minerais critiques hors de Chine. Selon Sovereign, la production envisagée couvrirait cinq des sept terres rares soumises aux restrictions chinoises à l’exportation, dont le dysprosium, le terbium et l’yttrium.

Il reste toutefois une étape importante avant de considérer cette production comme acquise. L’étude économique exploratoire ne suffit pas, à elle seule, à établir la viabilité définitive du projet de terres rares. Ses premières estimations reposent encore sur des ressources minérales, qui devront notamment être converties en réserves afin de confirmer le potentiel économique de ce volet. Sovereign Metals prévoit donc de poursuivre les études nécessaires à son intégration dans le plan de développement définitif de Kasiya, avec une étude de préfaisabilité attendue en 2027.

Brazilian Rare Earths commissions stage one pilot plant at Camaçari
The company produced its first rare earth mineral concentrate, marking full stage one circuit operation.

Shree Mishra September 8, 2026

Brazilian Rare Earths (BRE) has commissioned its stage one metallurgical pilot plant at Camaçari in Bahia, Brazil.

The company also secured partner co-funding for the next stage of the hydrometallurgical pilot plant.

It reported production of the first rare earth mineral concentrate from the plant, marking the operation of the full stage one beneficiation circuit and initiating bulk-scale metallurgical test work.

The stage one facility uses physical beneficiation methods to concentrate rare earth minerals from ore.

According to the company, the pilot plant’s configurable circuits have enabled the testing of various feedstocks and optimisation of processing performance.

Ongoing campaigns at the plant are expected to refine concentrate grades and recoveries, generating material for downstream hydrometallurgical testing and supporting further feasibility studies.
..................................

USA Rare Earth breaks ground at $1.2B magnet manufacturing facility in South Carolina

Staff Writer | September 11, 2026


(Image: USA Rare Earth )

USA Rare Earth (Nasdaq: USAR) this week broke ground on its new rare earth metal and magnet manufacturing facility in Blacksburg, South Carolina, marking a milestone in its plan to build an integrated rare earth supply chain for the US and its allies.

Located on a 124-acre site in Bailey Industrial Park in Cherokee County, the 800,000-square-foot facility represents an approximately $1.2 billion investment and is expected to create roughly 490 manufacturing jobs upstate.

USA Rare Earth said it selected Blacksburg following a comprehensive evaluation of nearly 275 potential sites across the country, adding that South Carolina stood out for its skilled advanced manufacturing workforce, reliable power, transportation infrastructure, proximity to customers and suppliers, and strong support from state and local partners.

“Breaking ground in Blacksburg is an important moment because it moves our vision from plans on paper to infrastructure taking shape,” CEO Barbara Humpton said in a news release.

“We’re building the capabilities America needs to make critical rare earth materials and magnets at home, while making a long-term investment in the people and communities that will help us do it.”
..........................

The Blacksburg facility will complement USA Rare Earth’s existing magnet manufacturing operation in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where it commissioned its first commercial production line earlier this year.

Together, Blacksburg and the planned expansion at Stillwater are expected to provide USA Rare Earth with 10,000 tpa of domestic neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnet manufacturing capacity.

USAR also finalized a deal in July to buy a minority stake in France’s Carester that will provide funds for expansion of a processing plant due to open later this year.

The move is part of a scramble by the US and Europe to build their own rare earths and magnet output to cut dependence on China, which controls about 90% of global processed output of the minerals vital for the energy transition, electronics and defence.

Once online, the South Carolina facility is targeting production capacity of 6,400 metric tons per annum of sintered NdFeB permanent magnets and 5,000 tpa of strip-cast metal and alloy, with commissioning targeted to begin in 2028.

Critical Metals says it has ‘cracked’ eudialyte hurdle, plans $2.2B a year refinery in Romania

Staff Writer | September 16, 2026

Critical Metals (Nasdaq: CRML) announced Wednesday that its patent-pending process dissolves more than 99% of eudialyte concentrate from its Tanbreez project and recovers 19 ultra-high-purity rare earth and critical metal products.


Eudialyte is a rare red or pink silicate stone used as a major industrial source for zirconium, hafnium, and heavy rare earth elements. Located at Killavaat Alannguat in southern Greenland, Tanbreez is regarded as one of the largest undeveloped heavy rare earth assets outside China.

The company said plans to run its patent-pending process at a proposed $2.2 billion-a-year refinery in Romania.

The preliminary refinery study outlines a joint venture designed to process feedstock from Tanbreez. Eudialyte ores have historically been notorious in metallurgical processing due to their tendency to dissolve into a thick, unfilterable silica gel—a hurdle Critical Metals says it “cracked” during process innovations.

The proposed CRML Romanian joint venture refinery, which is expected to receive 50% of all concentrate production under the existing term sheet, incorporates three major process innovations that are projected to enhance project economics.
The proposed CRML Romania process refinery is being designed with capacity to process up to 100,000 tons per year of eudialyte concentrate feed and based on current modelling, produce approximately 27,943 tons per year of rare earth and critical metal products in the form of chloride salts and other ultra-pure products, the company said.

Projected by-products include 25,670 tons per year of high purity SiO2 powder. Based on current modelling and assumed market pricing, projected annual revenue from the silica by-product could reach approximately $600 million, Critical Metals said.

The current preliminary CAPEX estimate is $1.85 billion, current modelling projects annual revenue of approximately $2.2 billion before operating costs, taxes and capital recovery. Current modelling indicates an NPV10 of approximately $4.5 billion, an IRR of approximately 55% and a projected payback period of approximately two years.

The silicate recovery system is projected to contribute approximately $400-600 million per year in combined value from SiO2 revenue and avoided acid costs, potentially transforming a conventional waste stream into a significant revenue contributor. Based on current modelling and pricing assumptions key value drivers include SiO2, NbCl5, DyCl3, TaCl5 and Hafnium products.

The proposed CRML Romania process pefinery uses a multistage, mixed-acid leach process operating at elevated temperatures, followed by cascading recovery steps designed to produce high-purity rare earth salts, metals and critical metal salts for advanced industrial, aerospace, technology and defense applications.
..........................