Rare Earths Reserves: Top 8 Countries (Updated 2024)

Top rare earths reserves by country

Here’s an overview of rare earths reserves by country, with a focus on the eight countries whose reserves are over 1 million MT. Data is taken from the US Geological Survey’s latest report on rare earth elements.

Reserves information is unavailable for a few rare earths producers, including Myanmar, which took the third spot for rare earths production last year.

1. China

Reserves: 44 million MT

Unsurprisingly, China has the highest reserves of rare earth minerals at 44 million MT. The country was also the world’s leading rare earths producer in 2023 by a long shot, putting out 240,000 MT.

Despite its top position, China remains focused on ensuring that its rare earths reserves remain elevated. Back in 2012, the Asian nation declared that its reserves of these materials were declining; it then announced in 2016 that it would raise domestic reserves by establishing both commercial and national stockpiles.

The country has also been reining in illicit rare earths mining for a number of years, shutting illegal or environmentally non-compliant rare earths mines and limiting production and exports. These production limits have been easing, and last year the country raised mining quotas by more than 8 percent over 2022 in its sixth consecutive increase.

China’s dominance in both rare earth elements production and reserves has caused problems in the past. Rare earths prices surged when the country cut exports in 2010, resulting in an ongoing rush to secure supply elsewhere.

In recent years, China has begun importing more heavy rare earths from Myanmar, for which the US Geological Survey does not have rare earths reserves data. While China has stricter environmental regulations, the same cannot be said for Myanmar, and the mountains along its border with China have been heavily damaged by rare earths mining.

Rare earths prices soared to their highest level in 20 months, according to OilPrice.com, in early Q3 2023; this jump coincided with a temporary production halt in Myanmar, which accounted for 38 percent of China's rare earth materials imports in the first seven months of 2023.

2. Vietnam

Reserves: 22 million MT

Vietnam’s rare earths reserves stand at 22 million MT. It reportedly hosts several deposits with rare earths concentrations against its northwestern border with China, and along its eastern coastline. The majority of rare earths in the country can be found in primary ore deposits, with a smaller amount located in coastal placer deposits. While this potential was previously untapped, that has now changed as the country looks to become an alternative to China.

Vietnam’s rare earths production was minuscule in 2022 at 1,200 MT, but it was even less in 2023 at 600 MT. Vietnam is the only country outside of China to have a vertically integrated rare earths magnet supply chain, according to Reuters, and it has attracted interest from companies in a variety of sectors.

The country's goal is to produce 2.02 million MT of rare earths by 2030. However, the arrests of six rare earths executives, including the chairman of Vietnam Rare Earth (VTRE), in October 2023 may put a kink in those plans. "VTRE’s chairman, Luu Anh Tuan, was accused of forging value-added-tax receipts in trading rare earths," reported Asia Financial.

3. Brazil

Reserves: 21 million MT

Although Brazil has the third largest rare earths reserves, the nation was not a major producer of rare earths in 2023, with production flat at a tiny 80 MT, on par with the previous year and even lower than its 2021 total of 500 MT.

However, that will soon be changing as rare earths company Serra Verde began commercial production from its Pela Ema rare earths deposit at the top of 2024. Pela Ema is an ionic clay deposit that will produce the four critical magnet rare earth elements: neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium. According to the company, it is the only rare earths operation outside of China to produce all four of those magnet rare earths.

4. Russia

Reserves: 10 million MT

Russia produced 2,600 MT of rare earths in 2023, more than Brazil and Vietnam. The Russian government shared plans in 2020 to invest US$1.5 billion in order to compete with China in the rare earths market.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused some concern over possible disruptions to the rare earths supply chain in the US and Europe, and there are signs the government has had to put its domestic rare earths sector development plans on ice while it's mired in war.

5. India

Reserves: 6.9 million MT

India’s rare earths reserves sit at 6.9 million MT, and it produced 2,900 MT of rare earths in 2023, which is on par with the previous year. India has nearly 35 percent of the world’s beach and sand mineral deposits, which are significant sources of rare earths. The country's Department of Atomic Energy released a statement in December 2022 breaking down its production and refining capacity when it comes to rare earths.

More recently, the Indian government was reported to be putting policies and legislation in place to establish and support rare earths research and development projects to take advantage of its reserve base.

6. Australia

Reserves: 5.7 million MT

While Australia was the fourth largest rare earths-mining country in 2023 at 18,000 MT of production, it has the sixth largest reserves in the world. Currently, its reserves stand at 5.7 million MT. Rare earths have only been mined in Australia since 2007, but extraction is expected to increase moving forward. Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC,OTC Pink:LYSCF) operates the Mount Weld mine and concentration plant in the country; it also runs a rare earths refining and processing facility in Malaysia. The company is considered the world’s largest non-Chinese rare earths supplier.

Hastings Technology Metals' (ASX:HAS,OTC Pink:HSRMF) Yangibana rare earths mine is shovel ready, and the company recently signed an offtake agreement with Baotou Sky Rock for concentrate produced at the mine. Hastings expects the operation to produce up to 37,000 MT of rare earths concentrate annually and deliver first concentrate in Q2 2025.

7. United States

Reserves: 1.8 million MT

While the US reported the second highest output of rare earths in 2023 at 43,000 MT, the country takes only the seventh top spot when it comes to global rare earths reserves.

Rare earths mining in the US now happens only at California’s Mountain Pass mine. Over the past few years, the Biden administration has made several moves toward strengthening the nation's rare earths industry.

In February 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order aimed at reviewing shortcomings in America’s domestic supply chains for rare earths, medical devices, computer chips and other critical resources.

The next month, the US Department of Energy announced a US$30 million initiative to research and secure domestic supply chains for rare earths and battery metals such as cobalt and lithium. The government released a follow-up fact sheet about the progress made in these initiatives in February 2022. The Department of Energy announced a US$32 million investment in new rare earths production facilities in July 2023.

8. Greenland

Reserves: 1.5 million MT

Although Greenland’s rare earths reserves number is close to that of the US, the island nation currently doesn't produce the metals. However, it does have two significant rare earths projects with large reserves: private company Tanbreez Mining's Tanbreez project and Energy Transition Minerals' (ASX:ETM,OTC Pink:GDLNF) Kvanefjeld project.

The US Geological Survey only measures proven economic reserves, but in terms of total reserves for rare earths projects globally, they placed first and third, respectively, with 28.2 million and 10.2 million metric tons of total rare earth oxides.

After signing an exploitation license with the government in 2020, Tanbreez is working on securing financing for its project's development; avenues being explored include discussions with independent oil and gas executives and the creation of critical metals NFTs. The company has its sights set on 2024 for production.

While Energy Transition Minerals had previously signed a license for Kvanefjeld, it was revoked by Greenland's current government due to the company's plans to exploit uranium. The company submitted an amended plan that did not include uranium, but the updated version was rejected as well in September 2023.

FAQs for rare earths reserves

What is the annual production of rare earths?

According to the US Geological Survey, global rare earth minerals production in 2023 came in at 350,000 metric tons, up from 300,000 MT the previous year. The production of rare earths has ramped up aggressively in recent years — only a decade ago, global production was just above 100,000 MT, and it first broke 200,000 MT in 2019.

Who is the largest producer of rare earth metals in the world?

China has consistently been the largest producer of rare earths, and its 2023 production made up 240,000 metric tons of the world's 350,000 MT. In terms of specific rare earths mines, the top producer is the Bayan Obo mine in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region in Northern China. The mine is owned by the state-owned Baotou Iron and Steel Group.

Are there rare earth minerals in Europe?

There are currently no rare earths mines in Europe, but there are multiple countries with reserves, including one with a significant new discovery. In early 2023, Swedish state-owned company LKAB announced it had identified the continent's largest rare earths deposit, the Per Geijer deposit, with rare earths resources of over 1 million MT of oxides.

With the European Union focusing heavily on building its own supply chain with the European Critical Raw Materials Act, the Per Geijer deposit could develop into an important source of rare earths for the region.

Several other countries in Europe hold significant rare earths reserves as well. Greenland hosts many deposits totaling 1.5 million MT of rare earths reserves along its coastline, with the majority located in the southwest of the country. The Gardar igneous province in the south hosts the largest ones.

Countries in the Fennoscandian Shield — such as Norway, Finland and, of course, Sweden — also host rare earth deposits, as the region has similar mineralization to Greenland.