【Ferro-alloys.com】: Australian Strategic Materials (ASM) has entered the commercial heavy rare earth market, making its first sale of heavy rare earth metals from its Korean metals plant.

The initial shipment included 2kg each of terbium (Tb) and dysprosium (Dy) metals that was sold to Magnequench, a subsidiary of Neo Performance Materials, for use at its permanent magnet manufacturing facility in Estonia.

ASM said the sale highlights the growing importance of Western-aligned supply chains for critical materials.

“These recent sales of terbium, dysprosium, and an additional 10 tonnes of NdPr (neodymium and praseodymium) metal further demonstrate the strength of our partnership and the growing demand for ASM’s high-purity rare earth products – enabled by our in-house metallisation expertise,” ASM managing director and chief executive officer Rowena Smith said.

“Combined with a global footprint that includes Canada, Estonia, Germany, Singapore, Thailand, and the US, Neo has a geographical reach and capability suite that is highly complementary to ASM and aligns with our vision of establishing secure, diversified and sustainable critical materials supply chains.”

The 10-tonne delivery of NdPr to Neo builds on a previous shipment of 19 tonnes and coincides with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by ASM and Neo that aims to broaden their strategic partnership.

The MoU, effective from July 15 for 12 months, outlines potential cooperation across sales, tolling, and innovation initiatives.

This includes supply of light and heavy rare earths from ASM to Neo, tolling of Neo-supplied materials at ASM’s plant, and potential gallium sales from Neo to ASM.

“Our collaboration with Neo is built on a strong foundation, and we’re excited to take the next step together through this partnership,” Smith said.

“Establishing an alternative mine-to-magnet rare earth supply chain is a significant challenge and strategic partnerships are critical in achieving this objective.”

Neo Magnequench executive vice president Greg Kroll said the partnership with ASM is an important step towards building diversified rare earths supply chain.

“ASM’s ability to produce high-purity rare earth metals using its in-house expertise aligns with Neo’s commitment to sourcing materials from trusted, innovative partners,” Kroll said.

“We look forward to deepening our collaboration as global demand for these essential materials continues to grow.”

• [Editor:Alakay]