Rare earth elements (REE)

 

Rare earth elements (REEs) are a series of 17 naturally occurring metallic elements – the 15 elements in the lanthanide series, plus yttrium and scandium, which are much lighter but are included with rare earth elements as they have similar chemical properties.

While not particularly rare, REEs commonly occur in low concentrations and/or in minerals not conducive to economic recovery. All REEs are divided into heavy and light categories based on their atomic weight.

REEs have powerful magnetic properties and are critical components in the production of renewable energy generation (wind turbines), electric vehicles, aerospace and defence applications and medical devices. REEs are expected to become increasingly valuable due to their many critical applications.

NSW resources

NSW is ranked fourth for REEs (Source: Geoscience Australia, Australia's Identified Mineral Resources 2024).

NSW offers a range of opportunities for discoveries of REEs. The Lachlan Orogen hosts important rare earth element deposits – such as the Dubbo Project, a hydrothermally altered trachyte intrusion and the Narraburra REE project, an ion-adsorption clay deposit (ionic clay)  Such deposits represent likely extractable sources of REEs.

The New England Orogen is associated with many polymetallic intrusion-related mineral occurrences, some of which contain monazite and xenotime with elevated rare earth elements and thorium.

In the Proterozoic Curnamona Craton, highly anomalous concentrations of rare earth elements occur in sulfide-bearing deposits, including the famous Broken Hill base metal deposit.

The Murray Basin, which covers the southwest of NSW, is a globally significant heavy mineral sands province that contains monazite and xenotime, which contain REEs, thorium and yttrium. The potential for monazite-hosted REEs in the province is actively being investigated by companies.
 

Rare earth elements in NSW map

Download the Rare earth elements in NSW map (PDF, 3.09 MB).

Essential uses

Quality data for explorers

NSW is known for its world class pre-competitive data, and has a long history of providing geological, geoscientific and geochemical data to promote investment in exploration.

Pre-competitive data to support REEs and niobium exploration (and other commodities) is made freely available on the Geological Survey of NSW’s web map application MinView.

In 2023, the NSW Government completed its largest ever geophysical survey acquisition program through airborne electromagnetic, airborne magnetic and radiometric, gravity, and deep crustal reflection seismic surveys. These surveys collected over 150,000 km2 of new data across the New England Orogen, the Lachlan Orogen and the Murray Basin areas that are prospective for critical minerals and high-tech metals, including REEs and niobium.

Global overview

China has the largest known reserves of rare earth elements, followed by Brazil, India, Australia, Russia, Vietnam, USA, Greenland and Tanzania.

China produced nearly 90% of reported world REEs production in 2012, but in 2024 their share was below 70% due to increased production in Australia, Burma, the United States of America, Nigeria and Thailand.

The global supply and demand forecast through to 2040 expects the value of rare earth oxides consumed by energy transition applications will rise at a compound annual growth rate of 19% (Source: Adamas Intelligence). This demand will be led by passenger electric vehicle motors, followed by wind power generators.

2024 Global REE reserves – 90 million tonnes rare-earth-oxide (REO) equivalent

Global REE reserves – 2023

2024 Global REE production – 390,000 tonnes REO equivalent

Global REE production – 2023

Source: modified from USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025.

NSW project highlights

NSW is home to the globally significant REEs project – the Dubbo Project – which is approved for development. The Dubbo Project is located at Toongi, 25 km south of Dubbo in central-western NSW (380 km northwest of Sydney). The Toongi deposit hosts a globally significant resource of neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium, and other critical minerals including zirconium, niobium and hafnium. The project has a total mineral resource of 75.18 Mt (42.81 Mt measured and 32.37 Mt inferred), 7,400 ppm of total rare earth oxides (TREO) and 1,660 ppm magnet rare earth oxides. The resource supports a multi-decade project life.

The Narraburra REE project located 14 km north of Temora in the state's central west, is also at an advanced exploration stage with a total mineral resource (indicated and inferred) of 94.9 Mt @ 739 ppm TREO, including a high grade core of 20 Mt @ 1,079 ppm TREO. The Narraburra project hosts light, heavy and magnet REEs within an ionic clay formation.  

There are 3 mineral sands projects at Balranald (approved), Copi (advanced development) and Euston (earlier stage development), which include rare earth element-bearing minerals monazite and xenotime.

 

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Notes:

All percentages (including in the pie charts) are rounded to whole numbers.

Forecasts are based on NSW Resources’ interpretation of available information. Forecasts are inherently uncertain and should be seen as a guide only. Actual outcomes may be different.