Sydney-listed Australian Strategic Materials said China’s newly announced export restrictions on rare earth elements (REEs) underscore the urgent need to establish secure and diversified global supply chains for critical minerals.

The company is advancing a vertically integrated mine-to-metals strategy through its Dubbo project in New South Wales and its Korean metals plant, aiming to provide materials impacted by the Chinese curbs — including dysprosium, terbium, and neodymium alloys — outside of China’s influence.

“ASM’s vertically integrated mine-to-metals strategy places us in a unique position to help mitigate the global impacts of China’s latest export restrictions,” CEO Rowena Smith said. “These new restrictions only heighten that urgency.”

China’s Ministry of Commerce recently announced increased restrictions on the export of key medium and heavy rare earths — including their oxides, metals, alloys, and magnets — escalating concerns around global overreliance on Chinese supply. China accounts for about 60% of global rare earths mining and more than 90% of refining and magnet production, according to Adamas Intelligence.

ASM’s Dubbo project, expected to begin production by 2028 pending financing, holds globally significant resources of neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium, zirconium, niobium and hafnium. Meanwhile, its Korean metals plant is already producing commercial quantities of NdPr metal and NdFeB alloy, with pilot-scale output of dysprosium and terbium metals targeting commercial levels in 2025.

Many of the products now subject to China’s export controls are already available or planned within ASM’s supply chain. These include dysprosium and terbium metals, samarium-europium-gadolinium chloride, and heavy rare earth chlorides, offering global partners a derisked alternative amid rising geopolitical uncertainty.

“The world must act now to develop alternative sources,” Smith said. “Even in the absence of export restrictions, global demand for rare earth products is projected to far exceed supply.”