According to Australian Government, the Fingerboards project by Gippsland Critical Minerals Ltd in East Gippsland, Australia is designed to become a major supplier of rare earth elements and zircon, with onsite processing and rail transport supporting downstream refining. The project targets annual output of around 200 tonnes of heavy rare earth oxides, 1,800 tonnes of light rare earth oxides, and 75,000 tonnes of zircon. It is expected to generate about 400 construction jobs and 262 permanent positions, with a total capital investment of $295 million.

According to Reuters, Swedish mining company LKAB is facing criticism after a report suggested its planned rare earths project near Kiruna could violate Sámi Indigenous rights. The deposit is estimated at around 1.2 billion tonnes of ore, containing about 2.2 million tonnes of rare earth elements, but the mine could interfere with traditional reindeer herding routes. The project is likely to face legal and social challenges as tensions rise between mineral development and Indigenous land use.

U.S. Strategic Metals (USSM) and Virtus Minerals signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The two parties reached a strategic cooperation in critical minerals between North America and Africa. Under the agreement, cobalt, copper and other products produced at Virtus’ Chemaf project will be supplied directly to the United States, with priority given to processing at USSM’s multi-metallic hydrometallurgical plant in Fredericktown, Missouri. The facility is capable of processing critical minerals including cobalt, nickel, copper, lithium and rare earth elements. The partnership will strengthen America’s independent supply chain and reduce reliance on other adversary-controlled sources.

The CLNB 2026 Solid-State Battery Conference was held in Suzhou in April, where experts reached a consensus that 2026-2030 will be a critical period for industrialisation. The conference focused on breakthroughs in technology pathways such as oxide and sulphide, elaborating on progress in mass production of lithium sulphide, innovations in high-specific-energy cathodes, and upgrades in equipment and processes.

[SMM Rare Earth News Flash] Zhong Ke San Huan, a leading enterprise in rare earth permanent magnets, successfully developed ultra-high performance sintered NdFeB permanent magnets. According to authoritative detection by the National Institute of Metrology of China, the magnet achieved a remanence (Br) of 15.32 kGs at room temperature, an intrinsic coercivity (HcJ) of 17.89 kOe, and a BH max of 56.8 MGOe, making it the rare earth permanent magnet with the highest coercivity among all publicly reported ultra-high remanence magnet systems worldwide. The R&D team achieved a major breakthrough in the comprehensive performance of the magnet without excessive reliance on heavy rare earth elements such as dysprosium and terbium.

Researchers at Northeastern University have introduced a new technique that can double the efficiency of rare earth element extraction. The study reveals a method for recovering rare earth elements from coal tailings, waste materials left after mining, using chemical treatment combined with a specially designed microwave reactor for precise temperature control. This approach achieves extraction rates two to three times higher than previous methods.