24-07-2025
Lynas Rare Earths links up with Koreans for proposed magnet factory as miner breaks three-year price record
Lynas Rare Earths wants to move further down the value chain of the coveted commodity by exploring plans to build a magnet factory with South Korea's JS Link, as talks on a US project drag.
The Amanda Lacaze-led miner revealed to the market on Thursday the pair had inked a memorandum of understanding for a 3000 tonne capacity neodymium iron boron magnet factory in Malaysia.
The CEO said the company was already an established rare earths supplier to magnet makers and was looking forward to working with JS Link on potentially developing a new industry in the country.
It comes after Ms Lacaze suggested Australian miners
would benefit
by partnering with Asian countries with strong manufacturing expertise.
There was little progress to report on getting the US to help pick up the tab for cost overruns at a proposed heavy rare earths facility named Seadrift in Texas.
'Lynas remains in active discussions with the U.S. Government regarding this additional capex,' the company said.
News of plans for global expansion came following a strong three months for the miner, with quarterly production of neodymium and praseodymium getting above 2000t for the first time.
Notoriously opaque rare earths markets also appeared to show some gains, with the average price of its rare earths products hitting $60.2/kg, the highest since July 2022.
'This is due to a continued focus on developing strategic customer relationships and the implementation of a balanced pricing portfolio that includes pricing agreements independent of the market index.'
Western rare earth miners argue overstocking of supplies in China has kept rare earths prices in a glut for several years, and makes it harder for them to get a solid foothold in the market.
More to come.
