Malaysian, Australian firms partner for rare earth production

Malaysia's Southern Alliance Mining and Australia-listed Brazilian Critical Minerals have signed a collaboration agreement to jointly identify opportunities for rare earth production, both companies said in a joint statement April 20.

The deal aims to maximize the value of their respective rare earth assets and create a joint scope of work to evaluate the terms of a potential binding agreement for rare earth product sales.

Iron ore miner SAM owns 40% of MCRE Resources Sdn Bhd, the operator of the Pioneer Gerik mine in Perak, which holds an estimated 84 million metric tons of rare earth elements. As of August 2025, MCRE had sold about 20,280 mt of mixed rare-earth carbonate, according to SAM.

Data from SAM shows that MCRE currently operates two of nine land plots at the Gerik mine, with the third and largest land plot commencing production in FY 2026-27.

On the other hand, BCM is developing the EMA project in northern Brazil, which contains a 1-billion-mt ionic-adsorption clay rare-earth deposit, according to the statement.

"ISR [in-situ recovery] is the most common method of rare earth extraction globally and SAM's results to date speak to the robustness of ISR approach and the future direction of the sector," said Andrew Reid, BCM's managing director.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed the monthly neodymium-praseodymium oxide price for the first time on March 31 at $125/kg CIF North America.