The Australian government has doubled down on their commitment to make the country a significant player in the global rare earths sector, with an additional $2 billion worth of subsidised loans and credit guarantees now being committed to domestic critical mineral miners and processors – on top of the $2 billion already available.

The Critical Minerals Facility, which now totals $4 billion of taxpayer funds, will go towards getting projects off the ground that were struggling to attain bank finance, and is expected to create many jobs across the clean energy, manufacturing and defence supply chain sectors.

The announcement comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Washington for the inaugural Australia-USA critical minerals task force.High-level discussions with US officials and both American and Australian miners and processors involved mapping out intricate details of the supply chains that both countries depend on for their net zero targets and military capabilities. 

The VanEck Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF jumped 3.5% overnight, and local rare earths major Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC) announced to the market that their Malaysian processing facility, which is currently being expanded, has had its licence extended until March 2026. This came just days after the company spruiked the progress of its new NdPr processing facility in  Kalgoorlie.

Reach recently had the pleasure of hosting two investor lunches in Sydney and Melbourne, bringing together our network of investors with globally significant businesses including VP Minerals, CarePage, meldCX and the Mine Discovery Fund. The key themes capturing attention noted at the lunches were artificial intelligence, renewable energy, healthcare, technology and critical minerals. It was wonderful to connect in person and hear what is piquing interest from investors. We look forward to hosting more of these in-person events in the future.

In global news, following a difficult week, Wall Street was lifted by majors posting strong earnings and positive outlooks, including Coca-Cola, GE, 3M and Verizon. The Dow Jones put on 0.6% of gains, alongside the S&P 500’s 0.7% move up and the Nasdaq’s 0.9% gain.

Iron ore jumped 2.9% to US$116.05/ton alongside increased government support from China to their economy. Gold also increased, while 10 years US treasury yields moved slightly lower. Earnings flooded in from a few of the ASX-listed majors today, including Woolworths and MinRes.

The XJO was largely sold down this week and is today trading around just above 6,880. It is still well above both its 52 week low of 6,776, and has so far today managed to hold above its 13 week low of 6,831. Having said this, the index now sits noticeably lower than both its 200 day weighted moving average of 7,183 and its 50 day weighted moving average of 7,057 and far off its 52 week high of just over 7,567.

Rare earth prices have seen an encouraging recovery over the past few weeks, which could be the start of a two year uptrend that is predominantly based on supply and demand factors.

In the coming weeks, we will be running The Insider: Rare Earths Summit, where an expert panel of fund managers, analysts and industry veterans will provide insights on market trends and how to identify potential opportunities. Click here to register your interest.

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