Home>Metal Events>10th International Rare Earth Summit

On May 10-11, 2018, the 10th International Rare Earth Summit held by Asian Metal and sponsored by Northern Minerals Limited and Peak Resources in Australia was held in Sanya of Hainan. Topics of the Summit were as follows: rare earth ore exploitation in countries from Australia, America, Asia, Africa and other regions; rare earth's demand and supply analysis in Europe, Japan, South Korea and others; downstream market development like rare earth permanent magnetic material and polishing and analysis on China's scandium industry and its outlook. The Summit received wide support of insiders from rare earth industry and approximately 200 representatives from more than 10 countries like China, the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Luxembourg attended the Summit.

The Summit formally started at 9:00 a.m. on May 11. George Bauk, the managing director and CEO of Australian-based Northern Minerals Limited made an opening speech firstly. Then, he introduced the company's updates of Browns Range Rare Earth Project which was operated crushing circuit debugging this May and would supply heavy rare earths to the world from this September. The output of rare earth oxides would reach 3,000tpy after the project ran at full capacity with around 300t of dysprosium oxide.

Later, Hu Zesong, the president of Shenghe Resources Holding Co., Ltd., shared his view on rare earth industry development in new era. He reviewed policy changes of rare earth industry in China, explained global rare earth industry development in new era and his suggestions, and described development ideas, experience and achievements of Shenghe Resources.

Qiu Yi, the sales manager of Beijing Jingci Material Science Co., Ltd. then delivered a speech on NdFeB magnet's development named NdFeB Magnet Application and Latest Development. He made comparisons between advantages and disadvantages of NdFeB magnet with different techniques from the perspective of rare earth permanent magnetic material application, focusing on the influence of rare earth price fluctuation on downstream magnet plants and stressing that the price stability of rare earth market was the healthiest way for the downstream market. Moreover, he also portrayed the basic development situation, the newest preparation techniques and updates of organization and control technology of rare earth permanent magnetic materials.

After a tea break, Michael Prassas, GM of Sales and Marketing of Peak Resources gave a report called NdPr: Biggest Blind Spot in the Global Commodity Market. Considering new energy auto's demand, he put forward that NdPr linked rare earth industry and new energy auto industry. In addition, he gave a detailed introduction about the company's Ngualla Rare Earth Project in Tanzania. JORC had made sure that there were 887,000 tons of rare earth oxides with a grade of 4.8% at Ngualla Rare Earth Mine which is bastnaesite and the output of rare earth concentrate with a grade of 45% would reach 32,700t after the completion of the project construction.

Then, Dr. In Joung, the president of Inochem Co., Ltd. in South Korea delivered a report "The Role of Rare Earth for CMP of Semiconductor". He introduced features and effects of rare earth used in CMP material in details from the point of global semiconductor industry's development, saying that compared with fumed silica and colloidal silica, ceria had following advantages: high hardness, low scratch counts, smooth surface after grinding, etc.

At about 12 o'clock, the Summit was suspended temporarily and attendees took photos.

At 2:00 p.m., Mirali Amayama, the director of Sales Department of Advanced Material Japan Corporation, introduced trends of Japanese rare earths industry. He noted that Japan's imports of rare earth from China have been increasing since 2011 with imports in 2017 reaching about 27,000t, which still had a great gap compared with those of 40,000t in 2006. What's more, affected by external economic conditions, the demand from rare earth market was sluggish and stocks stood at high levels, so Japan started to conduct R&D of alternative technology for rare earth before the rare earth crisis. He also introduced rare earth recycle technologies from polishing powder, waste NdFeB magnet and glass and related applications of rare earth-reduction. The most classic case was that Toyota developed new magnetic material used in motor in February 2018 with a decrease of about half consumption volume of rare earth. Moreover, Honda and Daido Special Steel developed first hybrid car motor free of heavy rare earth metals in July 2016. Mr. Amayama thought that the development of rare earth industry was unhealthy and rare earth was still in super cycle of rare metal.

Later, the vice president of Lynas Corporation Limited Pol Le Roux made a report "How can Lynas support your RE application development?". He described the development of the company's concentration plant at Mt. Welt and rare earth smelting plant in Kuantan, Malaysia. He said that Lynas plans to increase its monthly output of PrNd oxide from current 500t to 600t from January 2019 when the output of rare earth oxides will reach 25,000tpm. He also demonstrated the company's behaviors for waste water and gas treatment and radioactive contamination protection during the production of rare earth.

After the tea break in the afternoon, Niels Hachmann, the manager of Metallurgical Department from Thyssenkrupp Raw Materials GmbH in Germany delivered a speech named "The European rare earth market and updates from Rainbow rare earth". Niels noted that in the European market, the demand for light rare earths from catalyst industry showed an upward trend while that from glass and ceramic industries tended to stabilize. The demand from rare earth magnet industry was strong but companies in Europe mainly made purchases outside Europe to meet global supply demand. In addition, he illustrated that Europe had a high dependency on the Chinese rare earth and would shift more value of the traditional supply chains to Asian countries. Meanwhile, the recycling of rare earth material would be a focus in the future. He also revealed the development of Gakara Rare Earth Project of Rainbow Rare Earth operated by the global distributor of Thyssenkrupp Raw Materials GmbH. The rare earth concentrate production will ramp up to 5,000tpy in first production stage in 2018. The company has sold the material to companies in China so far.

Finally, Chen Weiping, the deputy general manager of Hunan Oriental Scandium Co., Ltd., delivered a report "Analysis on China's Scandium Industry and Its Outlook". He introduced scandium enterprises in China and sales and market situation, and provided practical suggestions for Chinese scandium enterprises' development by displaying their exploration on transition. Mr. Chen said that Chinese scandium companies needed technology innovation, comprehensive utilization and marketing collaboration to realize win-win, and strengthened research and boost domestic demand. In addition, he also showed the company's new-type D710 aluminum alloy with scandium added and this aluminum alloy has following features: high-strength, weldability and anti-corrosion.

At about 16:30 on May 11, the 10th International Rare Earth Summit held by Asian Metal was closed successfully with the support of sponsors and participating enterprises.

Asian Metal has successfully held rare earth forums or summits in China and the United States for many times in the recent years and received active support and cooperation from companies in rare earth industry. We hereby showed our sincere appreciation. Asian Metal will continue to provide timely and accurate information of metal market with our professional knowledge, and let's get together at the international rare earth summit in 2019.