Australia’s Resources Minister Madeleine said on Thursday that France is one of the countries prepared to invest in Australia’s critical minerals projects. Earlier, a framework agreement signed between Canberra and the US prompted countries with advanced manufacturing industries to secure access to critical minerals supplies. Australia has launched a four-year plan aimed at building industries for minerals such as rare earths. These minerals are vital to future technologies such as electronics and national defense. Madeleine said: “Since signing the framework agreement with the US, some other partners have also accelerated this work, because they are also ensuring that they can secure access to critical minerals.” “France is becoming increasingly active,” she said.

Concluding our series, we shift focus to 2026's emerging NdFeB growth drivers: robotics, low-altitude economy, and electric two-wheelers. While viewed as the "second growth curve," we analyze their actual demand support amidst current macro and industry cycles to determine if they can offset traditional sector slowdowns.

India is expected to increase domestic production of rare earth permanent magnets, such as lithium, targeting 5,000 mt by 2030. This move aims to reduce reliance on imports and gradually establish a solid foundation for critical minerals in China.

Australian producer Lynas Rare Earths is working to produce rare earth metals at a plant in Vietnam that will be built by South Korean company LS Eco Energy, with priority initially given to the production of samarium. Lynas said that under a preliminary agreement, it will supply rare earth oxides to LS Eco Energy’s rare earth metal plant expected to be established in Vietnam for further processing.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment in Vietnam has issued Consolidated Document No. 21/VBHN-BNNMT, detailing a number of provisions, including regulations on the management of rare earth elements. Specifically, in addition to complying with regulations on strategic and important minerals, the surveying, exploration, exploitation, processing, and use of rare earths must follow the national rare earth usage strategy. Activities related must ensure the principles of resource protection, environmental protection, and sustainable development; link extraction and processing with deep processing to increase added value and ensure technological self-reliance; not export rare earth minerals that have not met the required deep-processing standards; and only export deeply processed products.

[SMM Rare Earth Flash] Australian exploration and development company VHM announced on March 23 that it had approved the transition of its Goschen rare earth and mineral sands project in Victoria to full-scale development, abandoning its previous phased advancement strategy and directly launching large-scale operations with annual processing capacity of 5 million mt. The project was granted major project status by the Australian federal government in 2021 and had completed pre-feasibility and definitive feasibility studies, with development conditions fully in place. This move will accelerate the release of the project's resource potential and support the development of Australia's rare earth supply chain.

On the 25th, it was confirmed that the South Korean government will exempt tariffs of 3–8% on critical minerals such as lithium, graphite, and rare earth elements when domestically owned companies directly produce and import them from overseas. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has pre-announced a new regulation outlining tariff exemptions for overseas resource development projects. Under the policy, a total of 14 critical minerals—including lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, manganese, copper, zinc, and rare earth elements such as lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, terbium, dysprosium, yttrium, and scandium—will be eligible for duty exemption when brought into the country. The regulation is set to take effect on April 3.

[SMM Rare Earth Price Flash] As of now, the quoted price of cerium oxide in Sichuan has been raised to 15,000 yuan/mt. Major cerium metal producers in Inner Mongolia have raised their quotations to 35,000-35,500 yuan/mt, while some smaller producers quoted 34,500-35,000 yuan/mt, and the lowest quotation in Sichuan was 35,000 yuan/mt.

[SMM Rare Earth Bulletin] Chilean rare earth producer Aclara Resources announced that its rare earth separation pilot plant in Blacksburg, Virginia, has commenced operations. The plant sources mixed rare earth carbonate from the company’s ionic clay deposits in Brazil and Chile, and is designed to produce dysprosium, terbium, and Pr-Nd. It is expected to produce light rare earth oxides for the first time in May 2026 and heavy rare earth oxides in August.

Faraday rotator supplier GRANGPT issued a statement on production cuts. The core upstream raw material for Faraday rotators is SGGG (Substituted Gadolinium Gallium Garnet), which is made from bismuth-substituted rare-earth garnet using the liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) method. Nearly all of the rare earths used by GRANOPT’s substrate supplier, SMM Precision, relied on supply from China, and the time consumed in the current acceptance process by China’s Ministry of Commerce has far exceeded expectations, so the company will gradually reduce Faraday rotator production starting in January 2026.