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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nNot only Tesla, but also many other companies want a quick solution. After all, there is no way around the world’s largest emerging market when it comes to rare earths. In 2024, almost 400,000 tons of these raw materials were mined worldwide. China accounted for more than two thirds of mine production (see chart 1). In no other region of the world are lanthanum and the elements following it in the periodic table as common as in the People’s Republic. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimates the reserves in China at 44 million tons. Brazil, the country with the second-largest deposits, has less than half this amount (see chart 2). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since his return to the White House, Donald Trump has signed several executive orders focusing on the extraction of raw materials. Executive Order 14241 of 20 March 2025 states: “Transportation, infrastructure, defense capabilities and the next generation of technologies depend on a secure, predictable and affordable supply of minerals”. By speeding up the approval process and facilitating the use of federal property for the extraction of natural resources, Trump is aiming to increase domestic production in the USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The demand for rare earths will increase, but not equally for everyone,” predicts the German Mineral Resources Agency (DERA). Particularly high growth rates are expected in the application of magnets, in which neodymium, dysprosium, praseodymium and terbium play an important role. Demand for lanthanum and cerium for batteries is also expected to increase significantly. “In contrast, the use of luminescent materials, such as europium, is declining,” DERA continues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is still little sign of the expected boom on the market. World market prices are at a relatively low level. “All companies that are currently mining or processing rare earths are reporting economic problems. Even those in China,” says Harald Elsner from the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR). In his view, the West will continue to be dependent on supplies from China for a long time to come. In a recent study, DERA describes the supply of heavy rare earths – 100% of which come from China – as particularly critical. In addition to the automotive sector, the defense industry has a particular interest in changing this situation. The world’s largest deposit of heavy rare earths is located in Greenland – Donald Trump is known to be openly toying with the idea of annexing the Arctic island. However, it is not even being mined there yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Instead, heavy rare earths – albeit in comparatively small quantities – are much more likely to reach the global market from deposits in Australia,” according to DERA’s assessment. Lynas Rare Earths is at home on the fifth continent. The mining company has announced that it will soon be producing heavy rare earths from Australian ore in Malaysia and later also in the USA. Competitor Iluka Resources is working on a processing plant in Western Australia and wants to supply heavy rare earths from there from 2027. “This would significantly reduce the Western world’s dependence on China for these very special raw materials,” says BGR expert Elsner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The mining companies are sniffing out big business – especially Lynas. The Perth-based company describes itself as “the world’s only major producer of separated rare earths outside of China.” Lynas operates two mines in Western Australia, while the raw materials are processed in Kuantan, Malaysia, and then supplied to customers in East Asia, the USA and Europe. Amanda Lacaze has been at the helm of the company for almost eleven years. At the end of February, she addressed the US President directly with the message that Lynas could supply the rare earths that the West needs. “We have the resources and the ability to process them cost-effectively,” explained the top manager. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In line with this performance, the Lynas share has picked up speed. The Australian mid-cap reached its highest level in more than two years (see chart 3). The company is also showing increased operational momentum: in the third quarter of the 2025 fiscal year (as at June 30), revenue of AUD 123 million was a good fifth higher than in the same period of the previous year. However, analysts had expected even stronger growth. Lynas is currently starting production of the rare earths terbium and dysprosium. Not least due to this expansion of supply, the company believes it is well positioned to contribute to the diversification of its supply chains and to benefit from favorable market conditions. It will still take some time for customers to adapt their processes and supply agreements. “But now we have the opportunity to reshape the market sustainably,” emphasize the managers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Just a few days after this announcement, Lynas was confronted with reality. An economic agreement was signed in Washington D.C. between the USA and Ukraine. It provides for the two countries to jointly exploit mineral resources in order to generate funds for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Among other things, the USA will receive privileged access to the Eastern European country’s rare earths. However, details of the agreement are hardly known: The efforts being pushed by the USA to reduce its dependence on rare earths from China are obvious. The importance of these raw materials for modern life is also beyond question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the topic has struggled on the stock market in recent years. Typical for the commodities segment, economic and geopolitical developments play an important role in rare earth shares in addition to commodity prices. Exploration also influences share prices. If the development and commissioning of new mines does not proceed as planned, this can lead to price corrections. Due to these uncertainties and risks, investors who want to invest in rare earths should take a diversified approach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are various solutions for Swiss investors. At the beginning of 2019, Swissquote brought the sector onto the “Themes Trading” platform. Since then, the broker’s experts have been looking for companies with significant activities in the rare earths sector. Ten stocks are currently included in the Swissquote Rare Earth Index. Unsurprisingly, Lynas occupies the top position with a weighting of just under 17%. In general, the index is heavily weighted towards the fifth continent. Australian mining companies make up more than a third of the index. Canada takes second place in the geographical ranking with a weighting of 21.6%. Despite China’s dominance in the rare earths market, only one company from the People’s Republic made it into the index. The CMOC Group has a weighting of just over one tenth in the index. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The balance of power in the MVIS\u00ae Global Rare Earth\/Strategic Metals Index is completely different. Companies from China dominate here. China Northern Rare Earth Group is at the top with a weighting of 7.4%. With a total of 22 stocks, the index contains more than twice as many shares as the Swissquote barometer. In addition to the greater inclusion of Chinese industry representatives, the MVIS\u00ae Index focuses on the battery raw material lithium. This focus is likely to have enabled the US companies Albemarle and Lithium Americas to be included in the index. In terms of performance, the broader selection has a disadvantage. Over five years, the Swissquote Rare Earth Index has clearly outperformed the MVIS\u00ae Global Rare Earth\/Strategic Metals Index (see chart 4). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Investors can integrate the two benchmarks into their portfolio in different ways. Leonteq tracks the Swissquote Rare Earth Index with the tracker certificate RARETQ<\/a><\/strong> tracker certificate. The management fee for the structured product is 0.70% per year. There is also a fee of 0.10% for rebalancing the underlying. VanEck wraps the MVIS\u00ae Global Rare Earth\/Strategic Metals Index in an ETF wrapper for an annual total expense ratio of 0.59%. In the passive fund launched in fall 2021 REMX<\/a><\/strong> launched in autumn 2021, the US company specializing in thematic and commodity products manages less than USD 100 million, which shows that rare earths do not have an electrifying effect on ETF investors despite their increased presence in the stock market news. For investors with staying power and a pronounced risk appetite, the timing could nevertheless be favorable for an investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rare earths are indispensable for many applications in modern life. Up to now, these mineral raw materials have mainly come from China – a situation that US President Donald Trump wants to end with all his might. The trade conflict between Washington and Beijing could actually shift the balance of power in rare materials and offer opportunities for long-term investors. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1438804,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[225],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1438847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-focus-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.payoff.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.payoff.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.payoff.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payoff.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payoff.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1438847"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.payoff.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1438893,"href":"https:\/\/www.payoff.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438847\/revisions\/1438893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payoff.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1438804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.payoff.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1438847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payoff.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1438847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payoff.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1438847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.payoff.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/payoff-magazine_0525_Grafik_Fokus-2-1024x612.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nImmense importance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Remedy from Down Under<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A brash appearance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.payoff.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/payoff-magazine_0525_Grafik_Fokus-3-1024x612.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nExplosive agreement<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Investment solutions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.payoff.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/payoff-magazine_0525_Grafik_Fokus-4-1024x625.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.payoff.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/payoff-magazine_0525_Tabelle_Fokus-1024x497.png\")
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