Yeah this was more an overview of the industry and how the USA and China diverged on control and production. A really good article. But yeah, a gap of actually listing the elements and a single image depiction doesn’t include full names (just periodic table abbreviations).
From ChatGPT:
Light Rare Earth Elements (LREEs)
1. Lanthanum (La): camera lenses, hybrid vehicle batteries
2. Cerium (Ce): glass polishing, catalytic converters
3. Praseodymium (Pr): magnets, aircraft engines
4. Neodymium (Nd): powerful magnets (hard drives, EV motors)
5. Promethium (Pm): radioactive, used in nuclear batteries
This was quite interesting in how Molycorp naively handed it's near monopoly to China in the 1980s.
We've since seen this playbook repeated across multiple industries.
Lynas Rare Earths noted in it's last quarterly report that it has started it's HRE separation circuit and will begin producing Dysprosium this month (May 2025), followed by Terbium in June at it's Malaysian site.
Doesn't really help the US (which is why Lynas are building the Seadrift plant in Texas with DoD funding) as most of that will go to Japan. Lynas interestingly got into the rare earth business in the wake of China's ban on exporting to Japan, so their major customers are the likes of Sumitumo who put up the initial funds for the Malaysian plant.
Last I heard Lynas were asking for more USG funds due to issues with the planned waste water treatment which will blow out the project costs to get working. The actual draft environmental assessment document is an eye-opener as far as the minutia of requirements, despite this being a national security priority.
Sweden is gamifying local mining through Mineraljakten or Mineral Hunting: https://www.sgu.se/mineraljakten/
Not sure where this is going.
Anyway: cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, lanthanum
From ChatGPT:
Light Rare Earth Elements (LREEs)
Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREEs) Other Rare Earths.16. Scandium (Sc): aerospace alloys, sports equipment. 17. Yttrium (Y): superconductors, LEDs, cancer therapy
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We've since seen this playbook repeated across multiple industries.
Lynas Rare Earths noted in it's last quarterly report that it has started it's HRE separation circuit and will begin producing Dysprosium this month (May 2025), followed by Terbium in June at it's Malaysian site.
Doesn't really help the US (which is why Lynas are building the Seadrift plant in Texas with DoD funding) as most of that will go to Japan. Lynas interestingly got into the rare earth business in the wake of China's ban on exporting to Japan, so their major customers are the likes of Sumitumo who put up the initial funds for the Malaysian plant.
Last I heard Lynas were asking for more USG funds due to issues with the planned waste water treatment which will blow out the project costs to get working. The actual draft environmental assessment document is an eye-opener as far as the minutia of requirements, despite this being a national security priority.
https://www.listcorp.com/asx/lyc/lynas-rare-earths-limited/n...
https://www.forbes.com.au/news/billionaires/the-800-million-...
https://www.businessdefense.gov/ibr/mceip/news/docs/Lynas-Se...