According to foreign media reports, ASX-listed Lindian Resources signed a binding agreement to acquire a 51% equity stake in the Sareco Mixed Rare Earth Carbonatite (MREC) processing plant in Kazakhstan. The plant was previously operated by a joint venture between Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation and Kazakhstan’s national atomic energy company, Kazatomprom, and will now be jointly operated by Lindian (51%) and its domestic joint-venture partner, the RA Group (49%). The acquisition will upgrade Lindian’s business from rare earth concentrate production to higher-value MREC production, significantly improving its economic returns.

[SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review: Rare Earth Prices Pulled Back, Strong Wait-and-See Sentiment Downstream] Affected by news-related factors, the Pr-Nd oxide market saw heightened wait-and-see sentiment among downstream metal plants, and some traders proactively cut prices to boost shipments. As of today, Pr-Nd oxide prices had pulled back to 845,000-850,000 yuan/mt.

Japan is currently in talks with India on jointly exploring rare earth mineral deposits in Rajasthan. The Japanese government intends to dispatch experts to the site and is expected to provide mining technology support to Rajasthan.

Australia’s St George Mining announced on Monday a resource update for its Araxa rare earths project in Brazil, representing an increase of up to 75%. St George, which owned 100% of the project, said this was the result of work conducted since July 2025. The company said the Araxa project’s ore resource had increased from 40 million mt to 70.91 million mt. The total rare earth oxides (TREO) grade was 4.06%, and the niobium (Nb2O5) grade was 0.62%.

The US Defense Logistics Agency signed a contract with rare earth producer REalloys to support the development of next-generation thermal reduction technology for samarium and gadolinium metals. The core of the effort is to build a plant with an annual capacity of 300 mt to reduce mixed samarium–europium–gadolinium concentrates into high-purity metals. At present, the US has no commercial production of either metal and is heavily reliant on overseas supply. REalloys said its process can cut costs by 50% and has been patented. The move aims to establish domestic capacity and strengthen national defense supply chain security.

Neo Performance Materials of Canada and Cyclic Materials announced that they have reached a rare earth recycling agreement. Neo will supply Cyclic with magnet production scrap from its European plants, which Cyclic will recycle into mixed rare earth oxides for Neo to manufacture alloys and magnets. This move aligns with the objectives of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act and enhances rare earth processing and recycling capacity. Neo operates a 2,000 mt/year magnet facility in Estonia and is expected to expand it to 5,000 mt/year. Cyclic is building a recycling campus in South Carolina, with initial capacity of 2,000 mt/year for magnet processing and 600 mt/year for mixed rare earth oxides, which will increase to 6,000 mt/year and 1,800 mt/year, respectively, after expansion.

US critical minerals producer Energy Fuels said that once its Donald project in Australia comes on stream, it was expected to meet up to 50% of US demand for heavy rare earth elements. The project was expected to supply rare earths to the White Mesa facility in Utah from the end of 2027 to early 2028. In Phase 1, the Donald project could meet about 25% of US heavy rare earth demand, and Phase 2 could increase this to 50%. The project will produce 1,531 mt of Pr-Nd oxide, 168 mt of dysprosium, and 29 mt of terbium per year. After the Phase 2 expansion of the White Mesa facility, dysprosium capacity will reach 288 mt/year and terbium 80 mt/year.

According to SMM data, the composite operating rate of copper bar enterprises in February was 22.78%, down 22.08 percentage points MoM and down 17.64 percentage points YoY.

According to SMM, the overall operating rate of the enamelled wire industry was......

Today, the average spot prices of #1 copper cathode in North China against the front-month contract were at a discount of 280 yuan/mt, up 20 yuan/mt from the previous trading day, while the average transaction price was 101,300 yuan/mt, down 40 yuan/mt from the previous trading day.