What Are Rare Earths?
- Rare Earths (“REEs”) refer to a group of 17 chemically similar metallic elements on the periodic table
- REEs are sometimes referred to as “Magnet Metals”given their use in high-performance permanent magnets
- Despite the name, REEs are not actually “rare” and occur in abundance on earth. However, finding a high concentration of REEs which are economical to mine, and process is quite rare
- REEs are typically found together in mineral deposits, but given their chemical similarities are often difficult to process and separate into their individual elements
What are Rare Earths used for?
- REEs are used in a wide range of defense, consumer and industrial applications
- REEs are key to national defense with countless applications such electric motors on a F-35 jet, radar systems, drones and missiles
- A variety of high-tech application such as mobile devices, fiber optics, lasers, robotics, hard disk drives used in data centers, and medical devices used a variety of different rare earths
- The motors in an electric vehicle are typically powered by high performance rare earth permanent magnets
- The generators in wind turbine utilize rare earth permanent magnets to generate electricity
- Variety of everyday uses such as the motor that rolls up a car window, a LED light bulb and the camera lens on a smartphone
Importance of Re-Shoring Rare Earths
- From mine to magnet production China controls the global rare earths supply chain and is continuing to take steps to limit the growth of a Western supply
- The US only has one producing rare earths mine and limited supply options outside of China. American Rare Earths is well positioned to help diversify and secure the U.S. rare earths supply chain for generations.
Rare Earths and Permanent Magnet Supply Chain
Source: Market data from BMO Research