Global rare earths investment horizon outlook - Q3 2022

Rare earth prices have witnessed a downtrend in prices since Q1 2022, though investments in project expansions and commissioning from both private and state-supported sources have ramped up. Demand growth and the development of greater regional supply chains have driven developments outside of China, to counter their industry dominance. China is also defending its industry dominance, investing internationally at upstream stages of the supply chain. Long-term, growth in demand will be reliant on the development of new primary mining and refining operations, coupled with expansions at existing operations and greater involvement of recycled material within the supply chain. Key challenges in supporting this development remain the capital requirements to finance projects, technical difficulties in the extraction and processing of rare earth products, and securing permits for rare earth mining and processing in key regions.