RARE EARTHS
The future of rare earths in Australia
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Demand for rare earth minerals is set to skyrocket by 2030 in response to an uptick in automotive and computer production. Here’s why.
ustralia holds the third largest rare earth oxide resource globally at 3.19 million tonnes, according to Geoscience Australia. Despite this ranking, Australia is dwarfed by China, which holds around half of the world’s rare earth resources at 55.2 million tonnes. However, the Australian Government is looking to boost the country’s position in the rare earths market with new projects progressing through the development stage, including Arafura Resources’ Nolans rare earth project in the Northern Territory. The government will need to advance the country’s critical minerals projects through approvals as commodities such as coal begin to dwindle and decarbonisation becomes increasingly important to stakeholders and supply chains. The only scale producer of separated rare earths outside of China is ASX-listed Lynas Rare Earths, which operates the Mt Weld mine in Western Australia. Mt Weld is one of three rare earths mines in Australia, alongside Northern Minerals’ Browns Range site in Western Australia and Iluka’s Eneabba operation in Western Australia. The push for development of more rare earths projects in Australia comes at a time when China is plotting to increase its stranglehold on the rare earths market even further. According to Arafura managing director Gavin Lockyer, China’s Made in China 2025 strategy aims to transform the Asian superpower from a low-end producer to a high-end manufacturer. This includes ambitions of a strong foothold on the electric vehicle (EV) market through the manufacture of components and production that require a steady supply of rare earth metals. “Naturally the typical carmaker jurisdictions of Japan, South Korea and the European Union are extremely concerned about this,” Lockyer explains during a
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Sydney Mining Club presentation. Lockyer says these carmakers are looking for alternative rare earth supply outside of China, with Arafura hoping to cash in on this growing demand by starting production at the Nolans project in late 2024. Most rare earth mines have the minerals processed overseas in countries like China and Malaysia, but Lockyer hopes Arafura can show how Australia can be selfsufficient as a producer of them. “Australia no longer wants to dig things up and ship it out – and the way we can change that, because we do have the critical minerals in this country, is by starting to do downstream processing,” Lockyer says. “EV is the growing area (for rare earths) Mt Weld is one of the highest-grade rare earth deposits globally.
and most analysts are forecasting between eight-to-10 to 40 times of growth in demand over the next 20 years, and this will require six to 15 times more rare earth elements. “China is becoming a much larger importer of raw materials and that is simply to meet its own demand requirements. There may be a point very soon where China can’t even produce material that it can export because it needs it for itself.” Rare earths are used for magnets in EVs and require a small amount that is crucial to delivering an EV off the production line. According to Wood Mackenzie battery raw materials director David Merriman, rare earth demand has moved more towards the magnet space
