Australia is a significant source of rare earth minerals (REEs), holding major deposits like those mined by Lynas at Mount Weld (WA) and Iluka (WA), with key players including Lynas, Iluka, Arafura, and Northern Minerals developing projects for essential elements (Nd, Pr, Dy, Tb) for green tech and defence. While Australia mines these valuable elements, historically it has exported concentrates for processing, primarily to China, though it's building domestic processing capacity (like Iluka's Eneabba refinery) to support global supply chains and reduce reliance on China for these critical magnets, as noted by Geoscience Australia.
Australia holds at least four per cent of the world's rare earth element reserves, positioning it well for market growth. The Australian Critical Minerals Research and Development Hub aims to enhance understanding and processing of lower grade REE deposits.
China accounts for nearly half of global rare earth reserves (44M of 92M metric tons). Brazil ranks second (21M tons), while the U.S. holds 1.9M tons—about 2% of the total.
Rare earth reserves: Top 8 countries
China has an estimated 44 million metric tonnes of reserves compared with 5.7 million in Australia and 1.9 million in the United States. There were 110 million tonnes of rare earth deposits worldwide in 2024, according to estimates from the US Geological Survey.
Australia's critical minerals at the time of writing are: High-purity alumina, antimony, arsenic, beryllium, bismuth, chromium, cobalt, fluorine, gallium, germanium, graphite, hafnium, indium, lithium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, niobium, platinum group elements (including ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, ...
In Western Australia, Iluka Resources is building Australia's first rare earths refinery. The process — crushing rock, separating minerals, and neutralising the waste — requires vast amounts of water. Iluka's refinery will consume just under 1 gigalitre of groundwater per year.
Leading ASX Rare Earth Stocks
Iron ore is Australia's top export. Australia produces low cost, high grade iron ore with our biggest iron ore deposits located in Western Australia.
China accounts for 98% of global raw gallium production and 67 percent of raw germanium production, according to the USGS data.
Rio Tinto has begun establishing itself in the rare earth elements (REE) market, currently focusing on scandium production while exploring possibilities for gallium.
Humans have mined about 4.5 million metric tons of rare earth elements so far, and we know of only 90.9 million metric tons left on Earth. At today's production rates, we will run out of these materials in 60 to 100 years.
The rarest stable metal is tantalum.
In 2021, Australia was the top global producer for bauxite, iron ore, rutile and zircon (all bulk commodities), as well as lithium which is important for battery storage technologies.
Australia's rarest natural phenomena
For some investors, rare earths may be seen as a long-term opportunity given a prediction by the International Energy Agency that demand could double by 2040. There are several ways to invest including: Directly in ASX-listed companies such as Lynas Rare Earths (LYC), Arafura Rare Earths (ARU) or Iluka Resources (ILO)
China dominates the rest of the world in terms of REE reserves and production; in 2019, it supplied around 90% of the global demand for the 17 rare-earth powders.
Australia's credentials are significant. It has the world's fourth-largest rare earths reserves, and is home to the only significant producer of heavy rare earths outside China, Lynas Rare Earths, which processes ore from Mt Weld in Western Australia at its Kalgoorlie facility as well as rare earths in Malaysia.
China's "0.1% rule" refers to its October 2025 export controls, requiring licenses for foreign products containing ≥0.1% by value of certain Chinese-origin rare earths or made with controlled Chinese rare earth tech, extending China's jurisdiction extraterritorially to high-tech supply chains like EV magnets and AI chips, impacting global industries by giving Beijing leverage over critical materials. This "de minimis" rule creates significant compliance burdens for foreign firms, potentially halting supply of advanced tech.
Australia is home to the world's highest quality, precious opal. The most famous is black opal from Lightning Ridge in New South Wales. Black opal has a colour play of red, green, blue, violet, magenta or yellow against a dark background.
In Australia this concentration of gold took place in the Earth hundreds of millions of years ago in the eastern states, and thousands of millions of years ago in Western Australia. As well as gold, the fluids can carry other dissolved minerals, such as quartz. This is why gold is often found with quartz.
Resources and energy make up the largest share of Australia's exports to China, with iron ore, natural gas and gold leading the way.
The Lynas Mt Weld mine in Western Australia is acknowledged as one of the world's premier rare earths deposits.
Investing in rare earth metals can provide portfolio diversification, exposure to growing clean technology and high-tech industries, potential supply constraints that could drive price increases, and participation in the green energy transition due to their critical role in renewable energy technologies and electric ...