May 16, 2025 – Perth, Western Australia – Lynas Rare Earths Ltd has accomplished its first production of Dysprosium Oxide (Dy) heavy rare earths at its plant in Malaysia. The new heavy rare earth separation circuit was commissioned earlier this year, next on the agenda is Terbium (Tb) production in June.
“Lynas is pleased to confirm first Dy production on our new production line at Lynas Malaysia,” said Amanda Lacaze CEO and Managing Director of Lynas, based in Perth, Western Australia. “The production of this on spec Dy is a significant step for supply chain resilience and provides customers with the option of sourcing product from an outside China supplier. Lynas is now the world’s only commercial producer of separated heavy rare earth products outside China.”
‘’Lynas is uniquely positioned to contribute to and benefit from efforts to diversify and rebuild supply chains, including opportunities for a sustained market restructure. We are engaged with customers in Japan, the United States and Europe regarding heavy rare earths supply,’’ she added.
The Lynas Malaysia advanced materials plant is located on a 100-hectare site in the Gebeng Industrial Estate, a purpose built petrochemical industry zone near Kuantan, on the east coast of Malaysia. Lynas Malaysia has been operating since 2012 and supplies separated rare earth materials to customers in east Asia, the United States and Europe. The plant processes concentrate and mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) from Lynas’ Mt Weld mine and is comprised of three processing areas – cracking and leaching, solvent extraction and product finishing.
Pricing for the new heavy rare earths products is expected to reflect high demand for the HRE products outside China. “Our pricing offer reflects the high demand for these products outside China rather than the market index which is based on inside China transactions,” noted Lacaze in her April 28 quarterly CEO report. “Recent global trade and policy changes have affected rare earths trade and markets. The 2-way flow of rare earth materials between the US and China has ceased as a result of the tariffs levied in each jurisdiction. Further, the Chinese government has introduced export restrictions on Heavy Rare Earths and associated products which has led to a pause on all exports of rare earth magnets containing HRE from China. Lynas’ unique role as the largest supplier of separated rare earths ex-China, and the imminent addition of Dy and Tb to our product range, means that we are ideally positioned to contribute to supply chain diversification and to benefit from favourable market conditions. We expect it will take some time for customers to reorganise supply chains and agreements, however, this presents an opportunity for a sustained market restructure. Lynas is engaging with direct and indirect customers to develop new sales agreements.”
Among several expansions currently underway, Lynas is building a new rare earths processing facility in Seadrift, Texas, to develop a domestic supply of rare earths for U.S. commercial and defense manufacturers. The U.S. Department of Defense is supporting the effort with $258 million in funding. Production targets for the site are 2,500-3,000 tons per year of heavy rare earth products, and 5,000 tons per year of light rare earth products including 1,250 tons of NdPr. For more info, see www.lynasrareearths.com.
