Some estimates say China's supply of metals such as dysprosium, neodymium and lanthanum, used in missile guidance systems, laptops and many other products, could be exhausted within 20 years.
In a report published in April, Adamas said that the lack of new primary and secondary supply sources for rare earth oxides in the market from 2022 onwards, coupled with the inability of existing producers to increase their output, will create a major neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide shortage by 2035.
The reserves of some rare earth minerals used in electronics, medical equipment and renewable energy could run out in less than 100 years. Rare earth minerals are naturally occurring resources, which cannot be recreated or replaced. Some are present in only very small quantities in the Earth's crust.
Mount Weld mine expansion
The company has announced plans to invest $345m to expanding the capacity of the mine and its concentration plant, which will drive a 50% increase in production of neodymium and praseodymium to around 10,500 tonnes per annum by 2025.
Historically, however, demand for rare earths has risen at a rate of about 10 percent per year. If demand continued to grow at this rate and no recycling of produced rare earths were undertaken, known world reserves likely would be exhausted sometime after the mid-21st century.
The rarest metal on earth is actually francium, but because this unstable element has a half life of a mere 22 minutes, it has no practical use. Tantalum, on the other hand, is used to make capacitors in electronic equipment such as mobile phones, DVD players, video game systems, and computers.
Australia is the world's top producer of lithium, rutile and the second largest producer of zircon and rare earth elements.
How long will a neodymium magnet last? Neodymium magnets are permanent magnets and lose a fraction of their performance every 100 years if maintained within their optimum working conditions.
Australian rare earths production is based on Western Australian production of concentrates from Mount Weld and from trial mining and processing at Browns Range.
The neodymium magnets in a typical EV weigh up to 3kg (6 lb), but even at 1/12th of that weight, a neodymium magnet can support steel as heavy as prizefighter Tyson Fury, and will have about 18 times more magnetic energy than the standard variety, British magnet company Bunting told Reuters.
According to estimates, the total worldwide reserves of rare earths amount to approximately 120 million metric tons. Most of these reserves are located within China, estimated at some 44 million metric tons. After China, the major rare earth countries based on reserve volume are Vietnam, Brazil, and Russia.
The Lynas Mt Weld mine in Western Australia is acknowledged as one of the world's premier rare earths deposits.
Due to reports of serious injuring to children from swallowing these magnets, the CPSC banned them in 2014. The ban was overturned in 2016. After that, research showed a sharp rise in injuries to children from high-powered magnets.
Neodymium is primarily mined as part of a conglomerate with other rare earth elements in the monazite and bastnaesite mineral deposits. Historically, a single mine in California produced most of the world's rare earth minerals, but since the early 90s, China has become the world's primary source.
Iron Nitride ( Fe 16 N 2 ), which is produced by combining Iron ( ) and Nitrogen ( ) is considered a stronger magnet than Neodymium ( Nd 2 Fe 14 B ) . Iron Nitride is a very strong permanent magnet that does not require any rare-earth elements, such as neodymium.
In collaboration with colleagues from Austria, University of Cambridge researchers have found that tetrataenite, a 'cosmic magnet' that takes millions of years to develop naturally in meteorites, can potentially be used instead of rare earth magnets.
Neodymium is primarily mined as part of a conglomerate with other rare earth elements in the monazite and bastnaesite mineral deposits. Historically, a single mine in California produced most of the world's rare earth minerals, but since the early 90s, China has become the world's primary source.
Australia is one of the world's leading producers of bauxite (aluminium ore), iron ore, lithium, gold, lead, diamond, rare earth elements, uranium, and zinc. Australia also has large mineral sand deposits of ilmenite, zircon and rutile.
“The Nolans project is the only NdPr (neodymium-praseodymium) project in Australia that plans to mine and process ore to oxide at a single site,” Arafura managing director Gavin Lockyer said.
Gold. Australia's abundance of gold resources makes our country a prominent focus in the world's growing demand.
Osmium, rhodium and iridium are probably the rarest metals found in the Earth's crust with average concentrations of 0.0001, 0.0002 and 0.0003 parts per million by weight respectively.
Hence, Lithium is not a rare earth mineral.