Rare earths
Argus delivers established, independent rare earths pricing and market intelligence across all rare earth elements, including authoritative coverage outside China.
Overview
Rare earth elements (REEs) are critical raw materials used across advanced manufacturing and clean energy technologies, including electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, electronics, defence systems, aerospace, and industrial manufacturing. Rare earths play a vital role in enabling high‑performance permanent magnets, electronics, and specialised materials essential to modern economies.
Argus supports the global rare earths industry with comprehensive spot market pricing and forecasts, supply and demand data and news for the most commoditized rare earth elements including those used to produce ceramics, catalysts, energy storage and permanent magnets. Through the Argus Rare Earths Analytics and Argus Non‑Ferrous Markets services, Argus delivers established pricing benchmarks and forecasts alongside authoritative insight into the international rare earths markets, including those outside China.
Argus’ rare earths pricing and analysis focus on the individual elements most critical to global supply chains and strategic industries. Coverage includes light rare earth elements such as neodymium, praseodymium, lanthanum, and cerium, alongside heavy rare earths including dysprosium, terbium, yttrium, and europium. Each Rare earth element market exhibits its own distinct supply dynamics, demand drivers, and end‑use applications, making element‑specific pricing and analysis essential to understanding liquidity, supply risk, legislation on trade and evolving market fundamentals.
As part of the Argus Rare Earths Analytics and Argus Non‑Ferrous Markets services, Argus publishes a robust suite of established rare earths price assessments and benchmarks covering key light and heavy rare earth elements, including neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium, and praseodymium‑neodymium (NdPr). These assessments are supported by transparent, well-established methodologies, on‑the‑ground market engagement, and forward‑looking analysis. In addition to spot pricing for rare earth oxides and metal, Argus delivers one‑year and ten‑year market and price forecasts, alongside detailed supply, demand, and project analysis, supporting planning, procurement, investment, and risk management across international rare earths trading.
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Japan's Nippon Light Metal, Kobe Steel merge Al units
Japan's Nippon Light Metal, Kobe Steel merge Al units
Tokyo, 16 June (Argus) — Japan's Nippon Light Metal and Kobe Steel will integrate their domestic aluminium extrusion businesses, the companies said on 15 June. The firms aim to sign a definitive agreement by the end of November 2026 and create an integrated entity in April 2027 or later. Nippon Light Metal's aluminium unit that is being merged has sales totalling around 30,000 t/yr, the company said. Meanwhile, Kobe Steel's Chofu Works, the unit that will be merged, sells about 28,000 t/yr. Nippon Light Metal supplies aluminium extrusion products to sectors including transport equipment, industrial machinery and containers. Kobe Steel focuses mainly on automotive components, as well as railway vehicles and general distribution sales. Kobe Steel's aluminium extrusion business posted weaker earnings because of falling orders, it said in a May briefing on its management plan for its April 2024-March 2026 fiscal years. It was considering options, including collaboration with other companies, to strengthen long term competitiveness, it said at the time. The integration will combine Kobe Steel's alloy development capabilities with Nippon Light Metal's processing technology and broad order base. The companies also plan to improve aluminium scrap collection, standardise capital investment and cut costs by using their combined technical expertise. The new entity will operate as a joint holding company, with Nippon Light Metal holding a majority stake. The tie-up will cover Nikkeikin Aluminium Core Technology, a unit of Nippon Light Metal, and related divisions under Nippon Light Metal, and Kobe Steel's aluminium extrusion, billet casting and processed product businesses at its Chofu Works, along with domestic sales divisions. By Fumito Nagase Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
USW ratifies Alcoa New York, Indiana contract
USW ratifies Alcoa New York, Indiana contract
Houston, 12 June (Argus) — United Steelworkers (USW) union-represented employees of Alcoa's primary aluminum smelters in Massena, New York, and Warrick, Indiana, ratified a new labor contract days before the current one's 15 June expiration. The agreement will be in effect until May 2030 and will include a four-year, 18.7pc wage increase, Alcoa told Argus on Friday.There will be a $2,000 ratification bonus and pension increases. Massena union members in early May rejected an agreement, citing employee dissatisfaction with wages, and agreed to a 30-day contract extension. The USW proposed a strike authorization vote on 15 June. "We appreciate the efforts of everyone involved in the negotiation and ratification process and remain focused on maintaining safe and reliable operations while serving our customers and communities," Alcoa told Argus. By Emma DeArman Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
No value in making copper cathodes in Brazil: Vale
No value in making copper cathodes in Brazil: Vale
Brasilia, 12 June (Argus) — There is no value in making copper cathodes in Brazil, as producing red-metal concentrate already aggregates most of the gains a producer can have, a spokesperson for Vale Base Metals (VBM) said at a market event on 10 June. Concentrate aggregates 90-94pc of the value in copper's supply chain, leaving little gains in moving further downstream and producing copper cathodes, said VBM's corporate affairs director José Luiz Marques at the event organized by Brazil's mining institute Ibram. Marques explained that, especially in a high-price environment such as today's, VBM is already maximizing value through copper concentrate production. "When copper demand rises, treatment and refining charges (TC/RC) plunge, which is good for concentrate producers," Marques said, explaining that VBM prices its concentrate based on a formula consisting on London Metal Exchange figures, minus TC/RC fees and specific discounts depending on impurities. This means that the lower the processing fees, the higher the price of the concentrate. "It is a great time to be a copper miner these days," he said during a panel at the Ibram event. The costs to implement a smelter are very high, so there is not enough value added over the concentrate to make an investment worthwhile, according to Marques. "The aggregated value of copper concentrate needs to be around 60-65pc to make copper cathodes a valuable addition to Vale," he said, noting that few jurisdictions are able to profit from smelting. Criticism of Brazil's critical minerals bill Brazil's critical minerals bill , which considers all mineral resources and commercial partners equal, should have looked at copper through a different lens, Marques argued. Marques argued that copper has a much more established and liquid market than all other critical minerals, which should have been accounted for in the bill. Half of the bill's financial benefits are contingent on companies "processing and transforming" critical minerals in Brazil. As VBM and other local copper producers stand to gain little value in doing so, they could be prevented from accessing over R5bn in tax credits in a five-year period. VBM is slated to invest $10bn in the next 10 years in Carajás, its flagship copper asset. VBM's Marques also argued that the bill does not cover the most-needed improvement for Brazilian critical mineral producers: celerity. "It takes an average of 17 years to start-up a copper project in Brazil, and in 15 years the world will be in a supply deficit, so the numbers don't match," he said. "Only with celerity and agility in bureaucratic processes will Brazil be able to compete in the global copper industry." He noted that China added one-third of its smelting capacity in the last 10 years as a successful example of agile processes. Marques echoed the criticisms of fellow panelists at the Ibram conference, who pointed to slow environmental licensing and little predictability with bureaucratic processes, especially regarding timelines. By Pedro Consoli Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Brazil far from critical mineral processing
Brazil far from critical mineral processing
Brasilia, 11 June (Argus) — Brazil remains far from processing critical minerals domestically despite President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's push for greater capabilities, market participants estimate. Lula has championed critical mineral processing in Brazil since at least November. The debate gained prominence in recent months after his administration clashed with the US over this issue, as Lula has grown less flexible and making local processing a key condition to sign bilateral critical minerals agreements . Brazil's lower house approved on 7 May a critical minerals bill that aims to grant incentives to miners who process and refine volumes domestically, further increasing the topic's importance. Despite discussions on vertical integration, Brazil is far from processing at an scale, industry members said at a seminar on critical minerals hosted by national mining institute Ibram in the capital of Brasilia. "We are still unable to produce at sufficient scale to even consider this subsequent stage," national mining secretary Ana Paula Bittencourt said, noting that the gap between reserves and production remains wide. Brazil holds 24-25pc of global critical mineral reserves but produces less than 1pc, according to Brazil's economics ministry. Ibram says Brazil holds 10pc of global reserves of critical minerals, as the two groups have different definitions for critical minerals. Bittencourt said Brazil needs to speed up bureaucracy and improve geological knowledge to strengthen the mining industry. This could attract elements necessary to scale up production, such as credit lines and capital. Technical capacity Even with higher output, Brazil would need to train its workforce in critical mineral processing and develop technology to handle different minerals. Pedro Henrique Guerra, chief of staff at the vice-presidency, told the panel that each critical mineral has distinct market traits and price cycles. "We need technology and research to qualify our workforce," Bittencourt said. "We are looking for credit and funding mechanisms to back the technology development necessary to advance in supply chains for each mineral." Brazilian miners are skilled in extraction, but lack expertise in processing critical minerals, especially rare earths. "It is extremely difficult to find engineers capable of working on industrial production of rare earth magnets," researcher Fernando Landgraf said on a separate panel, where speakers noted that China holds a firm monopoly on this front. Pablo Cesario, Ibram's acting president, said Brazil needs to develop the technology but cannot achieve this without international partnerships. Legislative, operational bottlenecks The minerals bill, aimed at bringing clarity to the sector, could face delays despite expedited approval in the lower house and its move to the senate. Congressmen Jose Silva and Arnaldo Jardim, the bill's author and rapporteur, respectively, expressed confidence that it will pass the senate without major changes, ideally before October elections. But a senate official told Argus at the sidelines of an industry conference on 9 June that there is no timeline for a decision. Several major policies are pending in the senate, with the critical minerals bill awaiting prioritization by senate president Davi Alcolumbre, the official said. Brazilian will vote on 54 of 81 senate seats in October's election, alongside a large congressional reshuffle. Delaying a decision could present new roadblocks to the bill, which is urgently expected by stakeholders. "We need to sort this out before the elections, otherwise we will need to restart the debate with the newly elected group," Ibram president Pablo Cesario said. In addition to the legislative bottleneck, national mining agency ANM is about 60pc understaffed, with only four employees in its critical minerals division and 15,000 economic plans pending analysis agency-wide, according to its director-general. The ANM is responsible for managing and guaranteeing the safe usage of the country's mineral resources. By Pedro Consoli Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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