[REEs] The 17 rare earth elements and Uses 17種稀土元素嘅用途

喺17種稀土元素入面，只有少數幾種——特別係釹、鋱同鐠——對製造高性能磁石至關重要。其他元素喺電子、光學同催化方面有唔同嘅用途。

Among the 17 rare earth elements, only a few—especially neodymium, samarium, and dysprosium—are critical for making high-performance magnets. Others serve distinct roles in electronics, optics, and catalysis. Here’s a breakdown of their differences and magnet-related importance:

These five are the magnet superstars. Neodymium leads in strength, while samarium and dysprosium shine in extreme conditions.

Efficiency in Magnet Making Neodymium (Nd) is the most efficient for producing strong magnets. Dysprosium (Dy) is essential for magnets used in high-temperature environments like EV motors. Samarium (Sm) is preferred in aerospace and defense due to its thermal stability.

Pakistan recently sold enriched rare earth elements to the United States, including neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium—key materials for high-performance magnets and clean energy tech. This marks Pakistan’s first-ever REE export under a $500 million strategic partnership. 

 China’s response: Tightened export rules on rare-earth extraction tech, as Pakistan uses Chinese equipment.

SOURCE: COPILOT

[REEs] A Visual Chronicle of the 2025 Mineral Alliance

2025 稀土礦產聯盟的視覺編年史

"中国"商務部在十月早些時候宣布擴大對稀土及其技術出口的限制，以防止其在軍事及其他敏感領域的使用。 喺2025年10月20日，美國同澳洲簽咗一份價值85億美元嘅稀土同關鍵礦產協議，目的係確保供應鏈同應對中國嘅主導地位。呢份協議係全球稀土交易市場近期最重要嘅一單交易。

China's Commerce Ministry earlier October announced expanded curbs on the export of rare earths and its technologies, seeking to prevent their use in the military and other sensitive sectors.

On October 20, 2025, the United States and Australia signed an $8.5 billion rare earth and critical minerals agreement aimed at securing supply chains and countering China’s dominance. This is the most significant recent deal in the global rare earth trading landscape.

Here’s a detailed summary of the key developments:

US–Australia Rare Earths Agreement

Signed by President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House.

Scope: A strategic framework to secure supply chains for rare earths and critical minerals essential to defense and clean energy sectors.

Investment Pipeline: Up to $8.5 billion in joint projects, including rare earth processing facilities in Australia.

Participants: Companies like Alcoa are expected to be involved in the trilateral project groups.

Geopolitical Context: The deal comes as China tightens export controls on its own critical minerals, prompting Western allies to diversify sourcing.

Diplomatic Tone: While the deal strengthens US-Australia ties, Trump reportedly took care not to antagonize China directly during the signing.

Other Notable Developments

China’s Export Restrictions: Beijing has imposed stricter rules on rare earth exports, especially heavy rare earths like dysprosium and terbium, intensifying global supply concerns.

Western Strategic Moves:

The EU and Canada are also ramping up rare earth investments, though no deals as large as the US-Australia pact have been announced this month.

US-based companies like USA Rare Earth and NioCorp are receiving increased institutional backing and favorable analyst ratings.

Strategic Implications

This deal is not just economic—it’s geopolitical, reinforcing the AUKUS alliance and signaling a shift toward Western-led rare earth independence.

Analysts caution that while the deal is a strong start, it won’t immediately displace China’s dominance, which still controls over 60% of global rare earth refining.

SOURCE: COPILOT

[REEs] Parallelization can be used to improve the rare earth metal refining process output?

平行化可以用來改善稀土金屬精煉流程的產量嗎？

For rare earth metal refining, a country with an older technology can simply multified the operation unit (in parallel) for the separation to achieve multiple times output per year, since separation is the critical step. While other steps such as ore-processing can simply be increased in the batch size. And here is the comment from an AI.

Your understanding is partially correct, but rare earth separation is far more complex and less scalable than it might seem. Simply multiplying units or increasing batch sizes doesn't guarantee proportional output gains.

Here's a breakdown of the key factors:

Why Rare Earth Separation Is Hard to Scale

Separation is the most technically demanding step: Rare earth elements (REEs) are chemically similar, making their separation extremely complex. It involves multi-stage solvent extraction, ion exchange, or membrane-based techniques, often requiring hundreds of stages.

Parallelization isn’t straightforward: Unlike ore crushing or roasting, separation units require precise control of pH, temperature, and flow rates. Scaling by duplication introduces challenges in maintaining consistency, yield, and purity across units.

Expertise bottleneck: Countries with older tech often lack the specialized engineering talent and process knowledge needed to optimize and troubleshoot parallel separation systems.

Environmental and regulatory constraints: Separation generates toxic waste and requires strict environmental controls. Scaling up means scaling compliance, which can be costly and slow.

While ore-processing steps can often be scaled by increasing batch sizes or equipment capacity, rare earth separation is not easily multiplied in parallel due to its chemical complexity, precision requirements, and environmental risks. Countries with older technology may face diminishing returns unless they invest in process innovation, automation, and skilled personnel.