Top 10 Samarium Producers in 2026

• China’s state groups still dominate the samarium supply chain, but the field of credible samarium producers outside China widened materially in 2026.
• Lynas Rare Earths became the first non-Chinese company to produce on-spec separated samarium oxide, shipping ahead of its own schedule in March 2026.
• MP Materials and Energy Fuels both produce samarium only as part of an unseparated concentrate stream, with dedicated separation capacity not expected until around 2028.
• Aclara Resources is building a heavy rare earth separation plant in Louisiana designed to output separated samarium alongside dysprosium and terbium.
• China controls more than 85% of global refined samarium supply, and export licensing controls introduced in April 2025 remain a structural risk for buyers.

Samarium sits in an awkward spot in the rare earth story. It is not glamorous like neodymium or dysprosium, but it is the feedstock for samarium-cobalt magnets used in defence, aerospace and high-temperature motor applications where performance cannot be traded for cost. Demand for samarium is growing at an estimated 8-10% CAGR against supply growth closer to 3-4%, and the list of genuine samarium producers, as opposed to downstream magnet fabricators who get lumped into the same search results, is far shorter than most rankings suggest.

How We Ranked the Top 10 Samarium Producers

This ranking counts only companies with confirmed mining, separation or refining involvement in samarium oxide, metal or a verified concentrate stream. Samarium-cobalt magnet manufacturers such as Shin-Etsu, Vacuumschmelze and Electron Energy Corp are deliberately excluded: they consume separated samarium, they do not produce it, and conflating the two is a common error in competing samarium producers lists. Companies are ordered by scale and confirmation of samarium-specific output, from the established Chinese state groups through to emerging Western entrants still building separation capacity.

1. China Northern Rare Earth — China

China Northern Rare Earth is the world’s largest rare earth producer by volume, processing Bayan Obo concentrate through its Baotou operations. Its output profile is light-REE dominant, weighted toward neodymium and praseodymium, with samarium recovered as a by-product of that light and medium REE stream rather than a primary target. Its scale alone makes it structurally significant to global samarium supply even where samarium is not the headline product. The main risk for buyers is the same one that applies across the group’s entire output: pricing and export volumes remain subject to Beijing’s quota system.

2. China Rare Earth Group (CREG) — China

CREG is the state consolidator built around the southern ion-adsorption clay deposits in Jiangxi, Guangdong and Fujian, and it is the principal global source of medium and heavy rare earths, including samarium, alongside dysprosium, terbium and europium. Guangdong clays in particular are noted for higher europium and samarium content than the light-REE-dominant northern deposits. As a state consolidator rather than a single listed operating company, CREG’s samarium output is folded into broader group reporting, which limits independent verification of exact volumes.

3. Shenghe Resources — China

Shenghe operates as a processing and trading conduit between global feedstock sources and Chinese separation capacity, giving it a broader samarium supply footprint than its own mining assets suggest. It completed the acquisition of Peak Rare Earths, including the Ngualla project in Tanzania, via a scheme of arrangement finalised on 30 September 2025, extending its feedstock reach into East Africa. Its offtake relationship with MP Materials lapsed in January 2026 and was not renewed, a reminder that Shenghe’s role among samarium producers depends heavily on shifting commercial agreements rather than fixed captive supply.

4. Xiamen Tungsten — China

Xiamen Tungsten sits a tier below the two state quota-holders in China’s processing hierarchy but sources ionic clay feedstock from both Guangdong and a joint venture in Laos, giving it feedstock reach beyond domestic Chinese clay alone. That cross-border sourcing is notable because it shows Chinese separation capacity increasingly drawing on Southeast Asian feedstock rather than purely domestic deposits, a trend worth watching for anyone tracking the durability of China’s grip on samarium separation.

5. Lynas Rare Earths — Australia

Lynas became the only non-Chinese commercial producer of separated samarium oxide when it shipped its first on-spec batch in March 2026, ahead of its own guidance. The milestone sits inside an A$180 million expansion of its Kuantan and Gebeng plant in Malaysia, targeting up to 5,000 tonnes a year of heavy rare earth feedstock spanning samarium, gadolinium, dysprosium, terbium, yttrium and lutetium. Lynas is also backed by a binding four-year letter of intent, signed mid-March 2026, to supply light and heavy rare earth oxides to the US Department of War. For a company profile including its wider operations, see Lynas Rare Earths. The main risk is execution against an aggressive expansion timeline while scaling a genuinely new separation stream.

6. MP Materials — United States (NYSE: MP)

MP Materials currently produces samarium only within an unseparated SEG+ concentrate, a combined samarium, europium and gadolinium stream from Mountain Pass that it stockpiles and feeds into its heavy rare earth separation circuit. Separated, high-purity samarium oxide is committed under its Department of Defense partnership, but the company’s own guidance targets that milestone for around 2028, not the present. MP should not be read as a current separated-samarium producer among samarium producers until that separation circuit is operating; full detail on its DoD arrangement is available via MP Materials investor relations.

7. Energy Fuels — United States (NYSE: UUUU)

Energy Fuels has achieved pilot-scale dysprosium and terbium oxide at 99.9% purity from its White Mesa Mill in Utah, qualified by a South Korean magnet manufacturer’s QA/QC process. Its samarium timeline has slipped through 2026: as of the company’s most recent guidance in August 2026, dedicated samarium, europium and gadolinium separation circuits are now targeted for completion by the end of 2028, alongside a mixed rare earth carbonate processing circuit. Energy Fuels belongs on a samarium producers watchlist rather than a current-output ranking on samarium specifically, though its dysprosium and terbium progress shows the separation capability is being built.

8. Aclara Resources — Chile/Brazil, plant in Louisiana

Aclara’s Port Vinton plant in Louisiana has been approved for an industrial tax exemption worth roughly $4.2 million a year, around $20.8 million over five years, and is set to break ground in the fourth quarter of 2026. The plant is designed to process mixed rare earth carbonate sourced from Chilean and Brazilian ion-adsorption clay into separated dysprosium, terbium, yttrium, gadolinium and samarium, with disclosed design capacity of 1,131 tonnes a year of NdPr, 148 tonnes of dysprosium and 25 tonnes of terbium. Samarium volume has not yet been disclosed. Full background is available on the Aclara Resources profile. The project remains pre-construction, so timing risk is the main factor for anyone counting on Aclara’s samarium output.

9. USA Rare Earth / Less Common Metals — United States/United Kingdom (NASDAQ: USAR)

USA Rare Earth’s UK subsidiary, Less Common Metals, signed a strategic agreement with Solvay in November 2025 to metallize Solvay-separated samarium oxide for magnet maker Permag, securing samarium magnet material supply for the European market over a three to five year horizon. This is a metallization and supply-chain role rather than mining or separation, so it sits at the downstream end of the samarium producers list, but it is a meaningful link in getting separated samarium into finished magnet alloy for Western buyers.

10. ReElement Technologies — United States

ReElement Technologies, a subsidiary and investee of American Resources Corporation, has announced production of samarium exceeding 99.9% purity from refined SEG+ ore concentrates, meeting samarium-cobalt magnet-grade specifications for defence and industrial use. No fixed production volume has been disclosed, and REM does not yet have a dedicated company profile for this entity. It is one to watch rather than a scaled producer at this stage.

The Outlook for Samarium Producers

The next 24 months will separate genuine samarium producers from companies that merely handle samarium as part of a broader concentrate. Lynas has already crossed that line outside China; MP Materials and Energy Fuels are both explicitly targeting 2028 for separated output, and Aclara’s Louisiana plant only breaks ground in late 2026. Pricing context matters here too: USGS Rare Earths Statistics recorded samarium oxide averaging $2.82/kg in 2025, up from $2.01/kg in 2024, a trend consistent with a market where demand is outpacing supply growth.

Export licensing controls on samarium introduced in April 2025 remain the single biggest structural risk for buyers outside China, and they are the reason Western governments are underwriting separation capacity through instruments like the US Department of War’s letter of intent with Lynas. Expect the samarium producers list to keep shifting rather than settling: watch for Aclara’s groundbreaking, MP Materials’ progress toward its DoD-backed separation milestone, and further disclosure from ReElement Technologies as it scales beyond announcement stage. Live pricing context is tracked on REM’s samarium price page.