An Introduction

Last Thursday China tightened its grip further on the rare earths market, of which it controls about 70% of the global supply by requiring foreign companies to obtain licenses to export products containing more than 0.1% of domestically-sourced rare earths, or manufactured using China’s extraction, refining, magnet-making or recycling technology. and that companies using the metals for military applications would be denied. The companies’ usage would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by China.

On Friday Trump responded by saying “there is no way that China should be allowed to hold the world ‘captive' with its rare earths policy because of its 'monopoly' on these crucial resources and announced that the U.S. would be imposing an additional 100% on Chinese imports over and above the current 40% that is already in place, effective November 1st, and would also be imposing export controls on “any and all critical software.” on the same date. As a result, the S&P 500 dropped 2.7% and the Nasdaq by 3.5% as the closing bell rang out at the New York Stock Exchange while the stocks of rare earth metal companies soared by 10.5%, on average, on the day. 

Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are set to meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit at the end of this month so perhaps Trump's November 1st implementation date is nothing more than a negotiating tactic to put pressure on China to ease up on its restrictions on rare earth metal exports.

If Trump follows through with his intentions, investors fear that the load may be too great to bear for the U.S. economy, which is still reliant on imported rare earth metals as components for parts to build automobiles, solar panels, and the like. Perhaps the greater risk that weighs on the market is retaliation from China on U.S. goods that could lead to an all-out trade war. That being said, a Chinese ministry spokesperson said today (Sunday) that “we are not afraid of” a trade war with the United States..." and "Willful threats of high tariffs are not the right way to get along with China,” adding "“China’s position on the trade war is consistent: we do not want it, but we are not afraid of it.”

About Rare Earth Metals

As described  in Wikiperdia:

•  rare-earth elements (REE), also called rare-earth metals, or rare earths, are a set of 17 nearly indistinguishable lustrous silvery-white soft heavy metals (see list here). The 15 lanthanides (or lanthanoids), along with scandium and yttrium, are usually included as rare earths (scandium and yttrium are considered rare-earth elements because they tend to occur in the same ore deposits as the lanthanides and exhibit similar chemical properties, but have different electrical and magnetic properties). 
• Those with low atomic numbers are referred to as light rare-earth elements (LREE), those with high atomic numbers are the heavy rare-earth elements (HREE), and those that fall in between are typically referred to as the middle rare-earth elements (MREE). Commonly, rare-earth elements with atomic numbers 57 to 61 (lanthanum to promethium) are classified as light and those with atomic numbers 62 and greater are classified as heavy rare-earth elements. Large ore bodies of LREE are known around the world and are being exploited. Ore bodies for HREE are more rare, smaller, and less concentrated. Most of the current supply of HREE originates in the "ion-absorption clay" ores of Southern China.
• Rare-earth elements or minerals are distinct from minerals or materials described as critical minerals or raw materials, which refers to materials that are considered to be of strategic or economic importance to a country. Compounds containing rare-earths have diverse applications in electrical and electronic components, lasers, glass, magnetic materials, and industrial processes.
• The term "rare" in "rare-earth" is a misnomer because they are not actually scarce (they are relatively plentiful in the entire earth's crust - cerium, for example, is the 25th-most-abundant element which is more abundant than copper), but rather because they are only found in compounds, not as pure metals, or perhaps because they were considered exotic at the time of their discovery.
• The "earth" part refers to an old term for minerals that dissolve in acids and thus are stable to oxidation. They are never found in highly concentrated form, usually being mixed together with one another, or with radioactive elements such as uranium and thorium, and can only be separated from other materials or one another with difficulty so to obtain rare earths at usable purity requires processing enormous amounts of raw ore at great expense.

Our Rare Earth Stocks Portfolio

In my article yesterday, entitled  All About Rare Earth Metals: Production, Reserves, Stocks, I identified the 10 countries that mined the most rare earths in 2024, the top eight countries in terms of rare earth element reserves, and a list of the biggest rare earths stocks by market cap on U.S., Canadian and Australian stock exchanges. Today's article outlines an expanded list divided into those companies in production (producers), developing mines (developers) and exploring for such mineral deposits (explorers), along with each company's focus, country of operation, market capitalization and stock performance last week, and since the end of June 2025, as follows:

Producers

1. Lynas Rare Earths (LYSCF): up 14.7% last week; up 152.3% since the end of June (approx. 3 months)
   • Country: Australia
   • Market Capitalization: $13B
2. MP Materials (MP): up 9.6% last week; up 135.5% since the end of June 
   • Country: U.S.
   • Market Capitalization: $13.9B

Sub Total Average: up 10.3% last week; up 137.9% since the end of June

Developers

1. Arafura Rare Earths (ARAFF): up 46.7% last week; up 345.9% since the end of June
   • ​​​​​​​​​Country: Australia
   • Market Capitalization: A$850M
2. NioCorp Development (NB): up 30.9% last week; up 100.0% since the end of June 
   • ​​​​​​​​​​​​Country: U.S.
   • Market Capitalization: $1.0B
3. USA Rare Earths (USAR): up 25.6% last week; up 197.5% since the end of June
   • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​Country: U.S.
   • Market Capitalization: $3.2B
4. Ucore Rare Metals (CVE:UCU): up 16.8% last week; up 643.8% since the end of June
   • ​​​​​​​​​​​​Country: Canada 
   • Market Capitalization: C$800M
5. Liuka Resources (ILKAF): up 12.1% last week; up 105.7% since the end of June
   • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Country: Australia
   • Market Capitalization: $2.1B

 Sub Total Average: up 23.8% last week; up 232.0% since the end of June

Explorers

1. Mkango Resources (MKNGF): up 29.6% last week; up 338.1% since the end of June
   • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Countries: Poland & Malawi
   • Market Capitalization: $297M
2. Aclara Resources (ARAFF): up 20.9% last week; up 232.9% since the end of June
   • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Countries: Chile, Brazil & Peru
   • Market Capitalization: C$752M
3. Vital Metals (VTMXF): up 11.1% last week; up 185.7% since the end of June
   • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Country: Canada
   • Market Capitalization: $28M
4. Northern Minerals (NOURF): No change last week; up 20.0% since the end of June
   • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Country: Australia
   • Market Capitalization: $223M

​​​​​​​Sub Total Average: up 22.2  last week; up 245.9% since the end of June

Grand Total: up 19.0% last week; up 177.0% since the end of June​​​​​​​

Conclusion

Monday could be another rough day for the markets, in general, and a banner day for rare earth companies, in particular. Stay tuned!