Aussie rare earths darling talking to world governments

Chair John Humphrey has told shareholders the Perth-based Lynas Rare Earths momentum to develop new opportunities, including an expansion into non-China metal and magnet supply chains, was picking up under its recently announced Towards 2030 strategy.

"Lynas is proud of our position as the market leader in responsibly produced separated rare earths", he said at an annual general meeting in Sydney on Wednesday.

Lynas, which owns a high-grade, long-life deposit in Mt Weld in Western Australia, has long been defending China's control of the market and minerals prices, which have been depressed due to strong Chinese supply.

It offers a range of processed rare earths including neodymium-praseodymium, which is used to make magnets for electric vehicles and wind turbines, dysprosium, and terbium.

The rare earths are processed at facilities in Kalgoorlie, which involves cracking and leaching technology, and in Kyantan, Malaysia, where it is ramping up the processing of separated heavy rare earths.

Lynas sells its wares into China but is also working to build clients outside of the Asian giant.

CEO Amanda Lacaze said governments around the world are looking for supply security beyond China and Lynas is continuing to engage with various regimes.

"Governments now understand the importance of rare earths .... and are finally recognising the current market dominated by the Chinese is not healthy," she told shareholders.

"We are in the best shape ever to take advantage of the opportunities and confident of our head start" against other market contenders outside of China.

Demand for Lynas' key rare earth - neodymium-praseodymium, which is closely tied to the renewable energy technology era - continues to rise and is expected to double by 2034.

One of its major issues is energy supply reliability at the $800 million plant in Kalgoorlie, which came into focus earlier this week when Lynas warned December quarter production had been cut after recent power blackouts.

It hopes to make up the shortfall into 2026, as talks continue to settle the issue with supplier Western Power.

Lynas shares started the calendar year around $6.50 per share and were trading down 2.5 per cent on Wednesday morning at $14.65 after peaking near $21.60 in mid-October.

Australian Associated Press