SYDNEY: Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths beat estimates for fourth-quarter (4Q) revenue by 10%, driven by higher selling prices across all rare earths products, and entered into a magnet manufacturing deal with South Korea’s JS Link.
The world’s largest producer of rare earths outside China said yesterday that it was seeing strong demand growth from end-use customers and emerging magnet manufacturing projects after Beijing curbed exports of the metals used in consumer electronics, electric vehicles and aircraft engines.
“I think you see a more vibrant and more buoyant rare earths market generally and I think that will underpin increases in the price,” Lynas chief executive Amanda Lacaze said on an investor call.
During the quarter, Lynas received an average selling price of A$60.20 per kg, the highest since the July 2022 quarter, compared with A$42.30 per kg a year earlier.
The company expects to set new production records each month as it begins to reap the benefits of recent capital investments, Lacaze added.
She emphasised Lynas’s unique position as the only major producer of both light and heavy rare earths, calling heavy rare earths “key to our competitive advantage”.
With demand strong, “at current production rates, we could be sold out several times over”, she added.
Shares of the company surged as much as 4.2% to A$10.57, the highest level since April 5, 2022, compared to a 0.3% decline in the broader Australian mining index.
Lynas posted sales revenue of A$170.2mil or about US$112.3mil for the quarter ending June 30, beating a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of A$155mil by about 10% according to financial services firm Barrenjoey, and up from A$136.6mil a year earlier.
The company’s total rare-earth oxide (REO) output for 4Q was at 3,212 REO tonnes, compared with 2,188 REO tonnes reported a year ago.
Lynas separately disclosed a deal with South Korean permanent magnet manufacturer JS Link to develop a sustainable rare earth permanent magnet value chain in Malaysia.
The collaboration includes plans for a 3,000-tonne neodymium magnet manufacturing facility near Lynas’ advanced materials plant in Kuantan, Malaysia, it said.
Lynas will supply light and heavy rare earth materials to support production, although the non-binding agreement remains subject to finalisation, the company said. — Reuters
