POLICY
Europe Bets €21 Billion That It Can Mine Its Way Out of China's Grip
Two years ago, the European Union passed a law called the Critical Raw Materials Act. The idea was simple. Europe depends on China for batteries, magnets, and most of the metals that go into them. The CRMA set targets: mine 10% of the EU's needs at home, process 40%, and recycle 25% — all by 2030.
That was the plan. The results, so far, have been slow. Last year the Commission picked 47 projects across the bloc and gave them "strategic" status. Several of those projects have already stalled. Developers warned in August that more could fail without money.
So on October 9, Brussels tried again. The Commission picked 46 new projects across 16 countries, bringing the EU total to 93. The estimated price tag: €21.1 billion, or about $23.7 billion. The projects cover 15 of the EU's 17 strategic raw materials, including lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, graphite, and rare earths. Four of the 46 are focused on rare earth elements for permanent magnets.
France leads with five projects — more than any other member state. And a detail buried in the data tells you where Europe's real bet is: 83% of the projects focus on refining, recycling, or integrated operations, not mining. That ratio makes sense. Europe doesn't have the geology to compete with China on extraction. But it can build the factories that turn raw material into finished parts. That's where the margin lives.
Here's the catch. Strategic status does not come with a check. The Commission said it "facilitates access" to EU funding and helps connect developers with lenders. That's a nice way of saying the money isn't guaranteed. Brussels has put up more than €2 billion in public funding so far, but €21.1 billion is ten times that. The gap between government support and what's needed is enormous.
Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné put it plainly. "We could face a crisis in the coming months," he said. The urgency is real. China has tightened rare earth export controls three times since April 2025. Dysprosium oxide costs 3 to 17 times more outside China than inside. Terbium is worse. And Europe still has no shared stockpile — every country wants its own reserves. They agree China has too much power. They just can't agree on how to share the solution.
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| Source: Strategic Metals Invest · USD/kg |
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ALSO THIS WEEK
COMPANY
Aclara Adds Three Elements to Its Louisiana Plant
Aclara Resources is expanding the scope of Project Dynamo, its planned rare earth separation plant at the Port of Vinton, Louisiana. The facility was originally designed to split NdPr, dysprosium, and terbium. Now it will also separate yttrium, gadolinium, and samarium — three elements used in power generation, aerospace coatings, and high-temperature magnets. The feedstock will come from Aclara's ionic clay deposits in South America. The U.S. Export-Import Bank is weighing a $750 million financing package for the project. Six elements from one plant is a wider spread than most Western separation facilities have tried.
POLICY
India Plans to Launch a Critical Minerals Stockpile Within 30 Days
India's Mines Secretary said the government will announce a strategic stockpiling policy for critical minerals within a month. The stockpile will cover materials needed for EVs, defense, and energy — including rare earths. The move comes days after Joint Secretary Kadam Sandeep Vasant told the India Mines and Minerals Conclave that the country needs to scale up rare earth processing from lab to commercial levels. India has 6% of global rare earth reserves but still imports most of its finished rare earth products. A national stockpile would be the first of its kind in South Asia.
PRICES
China's Dysprosium and Terbium Prices Fall Again After Golden Week
Shanghai Metals Market reported that dysprosium oxide and terbium oxide both dropped on October 10, the second straight day of declines after China's Golden Week holiday. Dysprosium oxide was quoted at 1.80–1.83 million yuan per tonne. Terbium oxide fell to 3.80–3.83 million yuan per tonne, with terbium metal following lower. Pr-Nd alloy held steady. The pattern is consistent: China's domestic heavy rare earth prices are softening while prices outside China remain at massive premiums. Buyers are watching for Q4 demand to pick up in mid-October, but so far, trading is thin.
SPONSORED
China declared economic war on the U.S. The U.S. punched back - hard.
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Foreign investment fleeing.
Their last hope? AI exports.
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La survie de nos industries doit dépendre de nos propres choix.
Stéphane Séjourné, EU Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy – October 9, 2026
Translation: “The survival of our industries must depend on our own choices.” This replaces an unverified quote from the original draft.
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Er
Erbium
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The Element That Carries the Internet
Every time you load a web page, stream a video, or send a message across an ocean, the signal passes through fiber optic cables doped with erbium. Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers – EDFAs – boost light signals over thousands of miles without converting them to electricity first. No erbium, no long-distance internet. The global market is small, about 700 tonnes a year, and China produces most of it. Erbium oxide trades around $88 per kilogram, far cheaper than its heavy rare earth cousins. But China added erbium to its expanded export controls in October 2025. The element has a pink oxide – one of the few rare earths you can tell apart by color alone.
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AROUND THE MARKET
WSU Geologist Wins NSF Grant to Study How Rare Earth Deposits Form
Washington State University assistant professor Erin Benson received a National Science Foundation grant to study carbonatites — the rare igneous rocks that host most of the world's richest rare earth deposits, including Mountain Pass in California. The research aims to build a geological model that could lower exploration costs and help find new deposits across the U.S.
— WSU News
Indonesia Pitches Rare Earth Ambitions at LME Week
Indonesia will host its Critical Minerals Forum on October 21 during London Metal Exchange Week, highlighting monazite-bearing tin streams in Bangka-Belitung as a near-term rare earth source. The country dominates nickel but has yet to build any rare earth separation capacity. REEx cautioned investors to demand verified resources and credible offtake before buying the story.
China's September Pr-Nd Oxide Production Rose 3% Month-Over-Month
SMM data show China's Pr-Nd oxide output rebounded roughly 3% in September from August levels. The question now is whether that supply bump will keep domestic prices flat or if Q4 demand from magnet makers will absorb the extra volume.
Appia Rare Earths Presents Dual-Asset Strategy at Tumazos Conference
President Kurt Radtke presented Appia's rare earth and uranium portfolio at the John Tumazos Very Independent Research conference on October 6. The update covered pending assay results from summer drilling at the Alces Lake rare earth property in Saskatchewan and refined uranium targets at its Otherside project.
