Asia’s rare earth projects supply the majority of the world’s critical minerals — from the iron-rich steppes of Inner Mongolia to the deep-sea muds of the Pacific. The ten projects ranked below span the full spectrum of project maturity: producing assets that underpin global supply chains today, constrained operations reshaping geopolitics, and long-horizon bets on reserves that have yet to produce a single kilogram commercially. Understanding these asia rare earth projects is essential for any professional or investor tracking critical mineral supply risk in 2026.
How We Ranked the Top 10 Asia Rare Earth Projects
Projects are ranked by strategic significance to global rare earth supply — a composite of confirmed resource scale, current or near-term production relevance, and geopolitical weight in the supply chain. Production volume alone does not determine rank: a project that supplies 60% of global heavy rare earth imports from a conflict zone outranks a larger-by-tonnage deposit that has not produced an ounce. All production and reserve figures are drawn from the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025 or operator public disclosures unless otherwise stated.
1. Bayan Obo — Inner Mongolia, China
Bayan Obo is the largest rare earth deposit in the world and the foundation of China’s light rare earth dominance. The deposit — operated by China Northern Rare Earth Group High-Tech Co. (SHA:600111), a subsidiary of the state-owned Baogang Group — underpins roughly 40% of global rare earth reserves. Rare earth oxides are extracted as a by-product of iron ore mining across a 48 km² site approximately 150 km northwest of Baotou, Inner Mongolia.
The deposit’s mineralogy is dominated by bastnaesite and monazite, yielding principally light rare earths: neodymium, praseodymium, lanthanum, and cerium. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology sets biannual mining quotas; Bayan Obo’s allocation is the single largest variable in the global light rare earth supply equation. Neodymium and praseodymium prices respond directly to quota announcements. China produced approximately 270,000 metric tonnes of rare earth oxides in the most recently confirmed USGS data — around 69% of global output — with Bayan Obo as the primary driver.
Risk: radioactive waste accumulation and tailings lake management at Baotou remain significant environmental liabilities. Western supply chain planners monitor Bayan Obo quota cycles as a primary price signal, not a supply threat — the project faces no operational disruption risk in the near term.
2. South China Ion-Adsorption Clay Deposits — Jiangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, China
The ionic clay deposits of southern China are smaller in total volume than Bayan Obo but more strategically critical: they are the world’s primary source of heavy rare earth elements, including dysprosium and terbium. Consolidated under China Rare Earth Group — a national champion formed in 2021 through the merger of six state producers — these deposits in Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Fujian provinces account for the overwhelming majority of global dysprosium and terbium production.
Ionic clay mineralisation allows in-situ leaching with ammonium sulfate, producing mixed heavy rare earth carbonate on-site before shipping to separation facilities. The process is relatively low-cost but environmentally damaging. Dysprosium and terbium prices track sentiment around Chinese quota policy and export licensing more closely than any other variable. China’s export licensing system, introduced April 2025, applies directly to products derived from these deposits.
Risk: no credible Western alternative for heavy rare earth separation exists at comparable scale. Lynas (Malaysia) produced separated dysprosium commercially for the first time in May 2025 — but at volumes far below what these southern Chinese deposits supply.
3. Chipwi-Pangwa Mining Belt — Kachin State, Myanmar
Myanmar’s Chipwi-Pangwa belt in northern Kachin State is, by import value, the world’s most important source of heavy rare earth elements after China’s own ionic clay deposits. The area produced approximately 31,000 metric tonnes of rare earth material in 2024 (USGS estimate), with China absorbing essentially all output for refining in Yunnan province. At peak, Myanmar supplied more than 60% of China’s annual heavy rare earth import value — a figure that includes dysprosium and terbium critical for EV motors and defence systems.
The operation’s supply chain position changed materially in October 2024, when the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) seized Chipwi and Pangwa from the military-aligned Kachin Border Guard Force. China briefly closed all border crossings before negotiating a new trade arrangement with the KIA in December 2024: a fixed export tax of 35,000 yuan per tonne plus a 20% volumetric charge. Trade resumed but production remains below pre-seizure levels across the estimated 370+ active leaching sites recorded by year-end 2024. The KIA has since introduced formal mining management regulations (October 2025) and begun exploring non-Chinese buyers, including preliminary engagement with Indian and US government representatives in 2025.
Risk classification: the highest-risk supply node in Asia’s rare earth system. Production is unregulated, environmentally destructive, and governed by an armed non-state actor whose relationship with China is transactional rather than stable. Any sustained disruption at Chipwi-Pangwa flows directly into global dysprosium and terbium pricing.
4. Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) — Gebeng, Malaysia
The Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in Gebeng, Pahang, is the largest rare earth processing facility outside China and the only commercial producer of separated heavy rare earth elements outside the Chinese supply chain. Operated by Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC), the plant processes lanthanide concentrate shipped from the company’s Mount Weld mine in Western Australia — the highest-grade rare earth deposit currently in production globally at 14.8% ore grade.
Malaysia renewed LAMP’s operating licence for ten years in March 2026 under stricter environmental conditions, resolving a multiyear regulatory dispute. The facility achieved two significant milestones in 2025: commercial production of separated dysprosium oxide (May) and terbium oxide (June), making Lynas the first non-Chinese producer to commercially separate heavy rare earths at scale. A new heavy rare earth separation facility with 5,000 tonne per annum feedstock capacity was announced in October 2025 at an estimated cost of RM500 million (~US$118 million), self-financed after an equity raise in September 2025. Phased production from this expansion is targeted within two years of construction start.
Risk: the LAMP facility operates on feedstock from a single mine at Mount Weld, limiting heavy rare earth throughput. Lynas is actively exploring ionic clay feedstock from Kelantan state deposits to supplement supply.
5. Dong Pao — Lai Châu Province, Vietnam
Dong Pao is Vietnam’s flagship rare earth deposit and the country’s most strategically important pre-production asset. Located in Tam Duong district, Lai Châu province, the deposit holds confirmed rare earth oxide resources of approximately 4.7 million tonnes (latest VIMICO exploration data), with mineralisation dominated by bastnaesite — a light rare earth mineral hosting neodymium and praseodymium in grades that are relatively straightforward to process.
The deposit is controlled by Lavreco (Lai Châu-VIMICO Rare Earth Co.), a subsidiary of state-run Vinacomin. It has been inactive for the better part of a decade following the withdrawal of two Japanese partners — Toyota Tsusho and Sojitz — after Chinese oversupply collapsed prices in the mid-2010s. A 2023 attempt to auction production concessions to a consortium including Australia’s Blackstone Minerals stalled after Vietnamese Rare Earth JSC (VTRE) executives were arrested for tax evasion. Vinacomin is now re-soliciting international partners; no new operator or production start date has been confirmed as of May 2026.
Vietnam’s national mineral strategy targets 2 million tonnes of crude ore per year from Dong Pao and surrounding Lai Châu and Lao Cai deposits by 2030 — an ambitious target that industry analysts consider unlikely to be met on schedule given the absence of a signed development partner. Dong Pao’s proximity to Yunnan province and China’s history of using oversupply to displace competing producers are structural risks for any investor in the project.
6. Minami-Torishima Seafloor Deposit — Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone
The rare earth mud deposit within Japan’s exclusive economic zone surrounding Minamitorishima — the country’s easternmost island, 1,900 km southeast of Tokyo — represents the longest-range bet in Asia’s rare earth project pipeline. Estimated reserves of approximately 16 million tonnes of rare earth oxides are contained within seafloor sediments at depths of 5,500–6,000 metres. The deposit is unusually rich in heavy rare earths relative to most land-based deposits and contains minimal radioactive elements, which simplifies processing.
The project crossed a critical threshold on 1 February 2026, when the JAMSTEC deep-sea drilling vessel Chikyu successfully retrieved rare earth-rich mud from 6,000 metres below the Pacific — a world first. The month-long test operation (11 January to 14 February 2026) aimed to confirm continuous extraction of 350 metric tonnes of mud per day and assess environmental impacts. The Japanese government has invested approximately ¥40 billion (~US$256 million) in the programme since 2018 under the Cabinet Office’s Strategic Innovation Promotion (SIP) framework. A full-scale demonstration at 350 tonnes per day is targeted for February 2027; commercial production is the subject of a 2028–2030 planning horizon.
Risk: economic viability at commercial scale remains unproven. Deep-sea mining at 6,000 metres involves engineering challenges with no precedent at commercial throughput. Processing mud at sea is impractical — sediment must be partially dewatered on the vessel and shipped to mainland Japan for separation and refining.
7. Indian Beach Sand Placer Deposits — Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Kerala
India’s monazite-bearing coastal beach sands span the shorelines of Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, with the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) having identified 13.15 million tonnes of in-situ monazite containing approximately 7.23 million tonnes of rare earth oxide as of July 2025. Monazite is a phosphate mineral rich in cerium, lanthanum, and thorium — classified as an atomic mineral under India’s Atomic Energy Act, which historically restricted all processing to the state-owned IREL (India) Limited.
IREL operates processing facilities at three locations: Manavalakurichi (Tamil Nadu), Chavara (Kerala), and Odisha. Installed separation capacity of 10,000 tonnes per annum exceeds actual output — approximately 4,000 tonnes per year — because environmental clearances, coastal zone regulations, and mining lease approvals have repeatedly constrained production. The regulatory picture changed materially in March 2025, when India opened rare earth exploration to private-sector companies for the first time, ending IREL’s 75-year monopoly on the sector. A permanent magnet plant for samarium cobalt magnets has been operationalised at Vizag. The government’s 2025 National Critical Mineral Mission allocates ₹16,300 crore in direct spending toward value chain development, with a processing target of 2,000–3,000 tonnes of refined REO in FY2025-26.
Risk: the thorium content of monazite creates radioactive waste management obligations that have no clear industrial-scale solution in India to date. Private sector expansion of monazite extraction is likely to face the same regulatory friction as IREL.
8. Nam Xe Deposits — Lao Cai Province, Vietnam
The Bac (North) Nam Xe and Nam (South) Nam Xe deposits in Lao Cai province, close to Vietnam’s northern border with China, hold confirmed reserves of approximately 2 million and 3 million tonnes respectively — among the largest rare earth concentrations in Vietnam. Both deposits are controlled by Hung Hai Group, which also holds a 20% stake in Dong Pao. In 2024, South Korean company Trident Global Holdings secured development and processing rights for both Nam Xe mines in a joint venture with Hung Hai Group, with Trident handling mineral development and processing while Hung Hai manages extraction.
Vietnam’s National Assembly approved a ban on unprocessed rare earth ore exports effective January 2026, a regulatory shift that raises the strategic value of projects with processing infrastructure — and complicates the development timeline for projects like Nam Xe that do not yet have domestic refining capacity in place. Vietnam’s broader mineral strategy targets 20,000–60,000 tonnes of rare earth oxide processing per year by 2030, with Lai Châu and Lao Cai as the primary hubs. Whether Trident can finance and execute a processing plant alongside mine development within that timeframe is the key commercial question.
Risk: regulatory complexity, proximity to China (which has historically used price as a competitive weapon against Vietnamese REE development), and the absence of processing infrastructure all constrain near-term production.
9. Kuirektykol Rare Earth Deposit — Karagandy Region, Kazakhstan
The Kuirektykol deposit in Kazakhstan’s Karagandy region was identified by government geologists in 2024 and announced publicly ahead of the 2025 EU-Central Asia Summit in Samarkand — timing that was widely interpreted as a deliberate signal to European critical mineral negotiators. Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and Construction estimates the site contains approximately 935,400 metric tonnes of rare earth oxides, with average rare earth metal content of around 700 grams per tonne. If formally classified and verified, the deposit would represent a significant addition to known central Asian rare earth resources.
Tau-Ken Samruk, the national mining company and a subsidiary of sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, has been tasked with evaluating Kuirektykol’s development potential. No mining licence has been issued and no formal resource classification under JORC or CRIRSCO standards has been completed. Kazakhstan’s government has acknowledged that ore extraction from new rare earth deposits is unlikely to begin within ten years, with development timelines of six to twelve years cited by officials. The EU formalised a 2025–2026 cooperation roadmap with Kazakhstan focused on geological exploration, research, and innovation; an internationally accredited rare earth laboratory under the National Geological Service is targeted for mid-2026.
Risk: landlocked jurisdiction, no existing rare earth processing infrastructure, and a development pipeline measured in decades rather than years. Kuirektykol is a long-range geopolitical asset, not a near-term supply source.
10. Navoi Mining & Metallurgical Combine — Uzbekistan
The Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combine (NMMC) in Uzbekistan is primarily one of the world’s largest gold producers — generating revenue of US$10.8 billion and pre-tax profit of US$6.1 billion in 2025, producing 3.2 million ounces of gold. Its relevance to the rare earth sector is the polymetallic nature of its deposit portfolio, which includes rare and critical metals alongside gold, uranium, copper, and silver. Uzbekistan’s government launched a US$2.6 billion, three-year national programme in 2025 targeting 76 critical mineral projects across 28 elements, with NMMC positioned as a key vehicle for critical mineral development alongside its gold operations.
Rare earth extraction at NMMC remains at an exploratory and early-stage industrial level — the company has no published rare earth production volumes, and critical minerals currently account for over 11% of Uzbekistan’s total export volume primarily through copper and zinc rather than rare earth elements. The EU’s 2025–2026 cooperation roadmap with Central Asia identifies Uzbekistan as a priority partner for critical mineral supply chain diversification. A gallium production line with 15 tonnes per year capacity is planned for 2026 at the Eurasian Resources Group’s Kazakhstan operations — an indicator of the direction of travel for the region’s technology metals ambitions. NMMC’s IPO preparations were paused in May 2026 as the government reassesses listing timing.
Risk: NMMC’s rare earth ambitions remain aspirational rather than operational. Uzbekistan has no rare earth separation or processing infrastructure, and any meaningful rare earth output requires significant capital investment and technology transfer.
Asia Rare Earth Projects — Comparison Table
| Project | Country | Primary REE Type | Status | Key Operator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bayan Obo | China | Light (Nd, Pr, La, Ce) | Producing | China Northern Rare Earth (SHA:600111) |
| South China Ion-Adsorption Clays | China | Heavy (Dy, Tb) | Producing | China Rare Earth Group |
| Chipwi-Pangwa Belt | Myanmar | Heavy (Dy, Tb) | Producing — disrupted | KIA (armed governance) |
| LAMP, Gebeng | Malaysia | Light + Heavy (Dy, Tb) | Producing + expanding | Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC) |
| Dong Pao | Vietnam | Light (Nd, Pr, Ce, La) | Pre-production | Lavreco / Vinacomin |
| Minami-Torishima (seafloor) | Japan | Heavy-rich mud | Test extraction complete Feb 2026 | JAMSTEC / Cabinet Office SIP |
| Beach Sand Placers | India | Light (Ce, La) + monazite | Producing — constrained | IREL (India) Limited |
| Nam Xe (Bac + Nam) | Vietnam | Light (Nd, Pr) | Pre-production | Hung Hai Group / Trident Global |
| Kuirektykol | Kazakhstan | Mixed REE | Exploration / assessment | Tau-Ken Samruk |
| NMMC / Uzbekistan | Uzbekistan | Polymetallic (REE exploratory) | Early-stage critical mineral programme | Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combine |
The Outlook for Asia Rare Earth Projects
The 2025–2026 period has accelerated two diverging dynamics across Asia’s rare earth project landscape. China’s export licensing regime — applied to seven rare earth elements from April 2025 and extended to civilian-use permanent magnets for Japan in January 2026 — has increased the strategic urgency of every non-Chinese project on this list. Simultaneously, the disruption at Myanmar’s Chipwi-Pangwa belt demonstrated how quickly a single supply node can shift from reliable feedstock to geopolitical pressure point. For procurement professionals and investors, the signal from Asia’s asia rare earth projects in 2026 is consistent: geographic diversification within the region is advancing, but midstream processing — separation and refining — remains concentrated in China at a level that no project outside Lynas’s LAMP currently challenges at commercial scale. Further data on global production context is available from the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries and from our ranked guide to the top 10 rare earth producing countries.
What are the most important rare earth projects in Asia?
The most strategically significant Asia rare earth projects are China’s Bayan Obo deposit (the world’s largest, operated by China Northern Rare Earth) and the South China ionic clay deposits (primary global source of dysprosium and terbium, controlled by China Rare Earth Group). Outside China, Myanmar’s Chipwi-Pangwa belt, Lynas’s LAMP facility in Malaysia, and Japan’s Minami-Torishima seafloor programme are the highest-profile projects.
Is Myanmar a significant rare earth producer in Asia?
Myanmar produced approximately 31,000 metric tonnes of rare earth material in 2024 (USGS data), making it the third-largest producer globally. The Chipwi-Pangwa belt in Kachin State is the primary source, concentrated in heavy rare earths including dysprosium and terbium. Since the Kachin Independence Army seized control of the mining towns in October 2024, production has been disrupted and operates under a new KIA-imposed taxation regime.
Is Lynas the only rare earth producer outside China in Asia?
Lynas Rare Earths is the only commercial producer of separated heavy rare earth elements outside China. Its LAMP facility in Gebeng, Malaysia — operating since 2012 — achieved commercial production of separated dysprosium oxide in May 2025 and terbium oxide in June 2025, milestones that no other non-Chinese facility has reached. India’s IREL produces light rare earth compounds from monazite beach sands but at constrained volumes.
What is Japan’s Minami-Torishima rare earth project?
Minami-Torishima is a government-funded deep-sea rare earth programme targeting an estimated 16 million tonnes of rare earth oxides in seafloor mud deposits within Japan’s exclusive economic zone, at depths of around 6,000 metres. JAMSTEC’s research vessel Chikyu completed the world’s first sustained deep-sea rare earth mud extraction test in February 2026. Commercial production is not expected before 2030, if the technology proves economically viable.
What is the status of Vietnam’s Dong Pao rare earth mine?
Dong Pao, Vietnam’s largest rare earth deposit, is pre-production. Controlled by Lavreco (a Vinacomin subsidiary), the mine has been inactive for nearly a decade following the withdrawal of Japanese investors. A 2023 attempt to auction mining concessions stalled after governance issues with a prospective local partner. Vinacomin is re-soliciting international partners as of 2026, but no production start date has been confirmed.
