Rare earth magnet makers relish a moment in the sun

Rare earth magnet makers are having a moment as Western nations scramble to build domestic “mine-to-magnet” supply chains and reduce their dependence on China.

A turbulent year of supply restrictions and tariff threats has thrust the strategic importance of magnet manufacturers firmly into the spotlight, with rare earths surging toward the top of the agenda amid the U.S. and China’s ongoing geopolitical rivalry.

Magnets made from rare earths are vital components for everything from electric vehicles, wind turbines, and smartphones to medical equipment, artificial intelligence applications, and precision weaponry.

It’s in this context that the U.S., European Union and Australia, among others, have sought to break China’s mineral dominance by taking a series of strategic measures to support magnet makers, including heavily investing in factories, supporting the buildout of new plants, and boosting processing capacity.

The U.S. and Europe, in particular, are expected to emerge as key growth markets for rare earth magnet production over the next decade. Analysts, however, remain skeptical that Western nations will be able to escape China’s mineral orbit anytime soon.

“Frankly, we were the solution to the problem that the world didn’t know it had,” Rahim Suleman, CEO of Canadian group Neo Performance Materials, told CNBC by video call.

“The end-market is growing from the point of physics, not software, so therefore it has to grow in this way,” he continued. “And it’s not dependent on any single end market, so it’s not dependent on automotive or battery electric vehicles or drones or wind farms. It’s any energy-efficient motor across the spectrum,” Suleman said, referring to the demand for magnets from fast-growing industries such as robotics.

His comments came around three months after Neo launched the grand opening of its rare earth magnet factory in Narva, Estonia.

Situated directly on Russia’s doorstep, the facility is widely expected to play an integral role in Europe’s plan to reduce its dependence on China. European Union industry chief Stéphane Séjourné, for example, lauded the plant’s strategic importance, saying at an event in early December that the project marked “a high point of Europe’s sovereignty.”

Neo’s Suleman said the Estonian facility is on track to produce 2,000 metric tons of rare earth magnets this year, before scaling up to 5,000 tons and beyond.

“Globally, the market is 250,000 tons and going to 600,000 tons, so more than doubling in ten years,” Suleman said. “And more importantly, our concentration is 93% in a single jurisdiction, so when you put those two factors together, I think…