For most of the 1980s and 1990s, a single building on the Atlantic coast of France set the global price of rare earths. Solvay's plant in La Rochelle, built in 1948 on a 40-hectare stretch of seafront, was the world's refining center. Buyers in Tokyo, Detroit, and Seoul watched La Rochelle the way traders watch the NYMEX today.

Then China happened. Beijing spent three decades pouring money into rare earth refining. They undercut everyone on price and swallowed the market whole. By 2010, La Rochelle was an afterthought. China refined over 90% of the world's rare earths, and the old French plant survived on small batches for auto catalysts.

This month, La Rochelle came back. Solvay began industrial-scale separation of dysprosium and terbium — the two heavy rare earths that make magnets work in extreme heat. EV motors, wind turbines, fighter jet fins — they all need Dy and Tb. And until now, if you wanted those two elements separated and refined, you went to China. There was no other option at scale.

That changed because Solvay's La Rochelle plant has something almost nobody else in the West has. It can separate all 17 rare earth elements under one roof. It is one of the few facilities outside China that can do that. CEO Philippe Kehren said the company will put another €15 to €20 million into expanding the site. The target: 30% of Europe's magnet-grade rare earths by 2030.

And there's money lining up behind it. OneIM — the $11.8 billion fund run by Rajeev Misra, former CEO of SoftBank's Vision Funds — is in talks with Solvay about a rare earths partnership. Reuters broke the story on September 8. OneIM already has stakes in other rare earth companies, some with existing Solvay supply deals. If this closes, it gives La Rochelle serious financial muscle for the first time in decades.

The timing matters. China's export control pause expires November 10, and after that, heavy rare earth shipments could stop again. Every Western company that uses Dy and Tb in magnets is looking for a non-Chinese source. Solvay just became one. Not a plan, not a PowerPoint — a running factory with 78 years of expertise and a building full of people who know how to do this.

Big news out of Washington that most people missed.

The House of Representatives recently passed landmark legislation, bipartisan, 294 to 134 in the House, to create the most comprehensive financial technology framework in U.S. history.

It's called the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.

This new law is forcing the entire $382 trillion U.S. financial system onto a brand new, lightning-fast Money Grid.

See the single asset sits at the center of a $382 trillion migration, free report inside.

Bloomberg calls it "a revolution in financial technology."

BlackRock's CEO — the man who manages $15 trillion in assets calls it "the next generation for markets."

The short version: it gives regulators a clear playbook for how America's new financial infrastructure will work.

And when regulators have a playbook?

Institutions stop sitting on the sidelines.

JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo have already announced plans to build a shared next-generation payment network targeting early 2027.

The DTCC which processed $4.7 quadrillion in transactions in 2025 alone just successfully completed its first live production trades on the new infrastructure this July.

Full commercial launch? Potentially October 2026.

That means the runway is short.

Because once every major bank, broker, and fund is plugged into this new Money Grid...

Digital Oil, the scarce asset that powers every transaction on it?

The demand equation changes permanently.

Senior Blockchain analyst Andy Howard has been tracking this from the beginning and he's put all the details in a free special free report with the name, ticker, and exactly how to buy.

He'll show you what it is, why it matters, and exactly how to get positioned now before the mainstream catches on.

The Department of Energy picked four projects on September 9 for $73 million in funding through its Mine of the Future program. The goal is to build domestic testing grounds for new mining tech — automation, wireless systems, advanced processing. One project in Virginia, Colorado, and West Virginia will combine underground and surface mines to test next-generation digital tools. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the investment will help move mining technology from the lab into the field.

Russian State Duma elections run September 18–20. The results are a formality — United Russia holds its grip. But what comes after matters for rare earths. On September 9, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov floated a trilateral Putin-Trump-Xi meeting, giving Moscow a three-day window between the vote and the September 24 Xi-Trump summit.

Russia has talked about rare earth deals with the U.S. for over a year. They import 90% of their own rare earths but sit on large untapped deposits. The question is whether they actually produce anything or just keep talking.

ResearchAndMarkets published its "Global Rare Earth Magnets Market 2027–2037" report on September 14, calling permanent magnets a critical chokepoint in the global industrial economy. The report covers NdFeB and SmCo demand across EVs, wind turbines, industrial automation, guided weapons, aerospace, and humanoid robots. Separate estimates from other research firms project the magnet market at $21.5 billion in 2026, growing to over $30 billion by 2033. Three forces are reshaping the market at once: tighter Chinese export controls, record Western government investment, and the January 1 DFARS deadline for U.S. defense magnets.

A new type of AI called "Accelerated AI" is about to take the world by storm…

And stocks connected to it are already breaking out: 133%… 210%… and even 320% or more just in the last few months.

But it's just getting started…

If you want to learn more about "Accelerated AI" – and get name and ticker of the #1 pick to play this opportunity…

Click here for more details. (No purchase necessary.)

Energy Fuels started building new heavy rare earth circuits at its White Mesa Mill in Utah. The new lines will produce dysprosium, terbium, and other heavy rare earth oxides at commercial scale. The build adds to the company's existing NdPr separation line and extends its mine-to-magnet strategy after the $1.9 billion Vacuumschmelze deal.

— Metal Tech News

The global rare earth magnet market hit $20.48 billion in 2025. IMARC Group projects it reaching $31.22 billion by 2034 at a 4.80% CAGR. EV adoption and clean energy targets are driving the bulk of new demand.

— IMARC Group

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested on September 9 that a trilateral Putin-Trump-Xi meeting could take place around the September 24 summit. Russia has discussed rare earth deals with the U.S. since early 2025 but has produced no results. Russia sits on deposits but imports 90% of the rare earths it actually uses.

— Forbes

Erbium oxide climbed to $86.72 per kg on the SMM benchmark as of early September, up from $81.69 in August. Demand from telecom and fiber optic sectors is supporting prices.

— Shanghai Metals Market