kilogram while terbium commands over US$1,000. A working understanding
of which elements sit where — and why — is essential for reading any
rare-earth project's economics.¹
(from lanthanum through lutetium), plus yttrium and sometimes scandium.
radius and electronic structure to produce materially different
industrial properties. Industry practice typically groups them into two
families: light rare earths (LREEs) — lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium,
neodymium and samarium — and heavy rare earths (HREEs) — europium,
gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium,
lutetium, plus yttrium.
are typically less abundant in natural deposits, harder to separate, and
more valuable in the applications that drive current demand growth. The
roughly US$1.00 per kilogram in 2025; cerium oxide at US$1.71 per
kilogram.¹ Both are used in catalysts — particularly for petroleum
refining and automotive emissions — and in glass polishing, ceramics and
specialty alloys. Their economic role is high volume and low margin, and
their prices are relatively stable because global supply is abundant.
the light side. Praseodymium oxide traded at US$74 per kilogram in 2025
and neodymium oxide at US$73 per kilogram. The combined
neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide, sold as a mixed product, traded at
defence systems. Their demand growth underpins most of the rare-earth
market's forward value.
kilogram in 2025 — higher than La/Ce but well below Nd/Pr.¹ Samarium is
used in samarium-cobalt magnets, a specialty high-temperature magnet
alloy particularly relevant to defence applications, and in some
nuclear-industry niche uses.
unusually volatile over the past five years. Neodymium-praseodymium
prices swung between roughly US$55 per kilogram in 2024 and peaks above
US$130 per kilogram during the 2021-2022 energy-transition demand spike.
reflecting improved supply plus moderated speculative positioning.
The heavy rare earths are where the price action gets interesting.
use that has declined with LED substitution) and in control rods;
gadolinium is used in medical imaging contrast agents and specialty
alloys.
reporting during 2025 placed dysprosium at roughly US$250 per kilogram
and terbium above US$1,000 per kilogram.² Both are added to
neodymium-iron-boron magnets to maintain magnetic performance at high
temperatures — a critical capability in EV drive-motors and
defence-grade actuators.
lutetium — are used in smaller volumes for specialty optics, fibre-optic
amplifiers, laser crystals and certain niche medical applications. They
carry meaningful prices but in smaller commercial markets than the
magnet-related heavies.
these smaller-volume heavy elements — holmium, erbium, thulium, europium
and ytterbium — alongside the April list. The inclusion reflected
their commercial volume. For most Western buyers, the October additions
hit demand for specialty applications more than mass-market products,
but the strategic message was significant nonetheless.
commercial rare-earth treatment because of similar chemistry and
extraction practices. It is used in phosphors, specialty alloys, laser
crystals and some ceramic applications. Its price sits in a middle
range, and its production tends to be tied to other heavy-rare-earth
recovery.
treated alongside rare earths in market commentary because of similar
supply-chain dynamics. It is used in specialty aluminium-scandium alloys
at high per-kilogram prices driven by very limited supply rather than
high volume demand.
question is the project's rare-earth distribution — specifically, the
share of neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium in total
contained rare earths. These four elements, sometimes called the "magnet
four," account for the overwhelming majority of the revenue potential in
most contemporary rare-earth deposits.
everything-else has very different economics from a deposit with 10
percent magnet-four and 90 percent everything-else, even if total
rare-earth content is identical. Brazilian ionic-clay projects typically
have higher magnet-four shares than traditional bastnaesite operations,
which is part of what makes them economically competitive against much
larger carbonatite-hosted producers.
terbium oxides in particular face sustained undersupply through 2040 —
roughly 1,800 tonnes and 450 tonnes of annual deficit respectively at
projected demand levels.³ Projects with heavy-rare-earth exposure
therefore sit in structurally attractive parts of the commodity complex.
on which elements it carries and in what proportions, and a diversified
investor view needs to weight exposures accordingly. For Brazilian
rare-earth producers, the current market environment rewards the
specific fractional composition that ionic-clay deposits carry — strong
neodymium-praseodymium share, meaningful dysprosium and terbium, less
dependence on hard-to-monetise light elements. Over time, as the market
matures and prices normalise across the complex, that relative advantage
may narrow. For the immediate decade, however, the perio