Rare earths stocks boom as the global critical mineral race heats up
2025-11-03 06:41:59
A wheeled loader transports ore to a crusher at the MP Materials rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, California, US, January 30, 2020.
Steve Marcus | Reuters
The appearance of critical minerals as A new arena for geopolitical competition This coincided with a stunning rise in US-listed rare earth mining stocks.
Despite paring gains in recent weeks, shares… Critical minerals It has advanced 241% over the past three months, while Newcorp Developments, Energy fuel and Idaho Strategic Resources All rose by more than 100% during the same period.
The impressive gains are even more evident year to date. Energy Fuels’s share price has quadrupled in the first 10 months of the year, while NioCorp Developments’ shares have nearly quintupled.
Rare earths have come to the fore as a key bargaining chip in the ongoing geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies.
Tony Sage, CEO of Critical Metals, which has One of the largest rare earth deposits in the world In South Greenland, the rise of US-listed rare earth miners was described as evidence of a major boom in the market.
“I talk about it this way, I mean there were four big booms,” Sage told CNBC by phone. “You had the gold boom in the 19th century, the oil boom in the 20th century, and in the early 2000s you had the technology boom — and now you have the rare earths boom.”
“But the rare earth boom is the future. It will support all of the above.”
We are moving from a philosophy of “filling the gap” through imports to “filling the gap” locally and regionally.
Audun Martinsen
Head of Supply Chain Research at Rystad Energy
Rare earths refer to 17 elements in the periodic table that have an atomic structure that gives them special magnetic properties. These materials are vital components of a wide range of modern technologies, from everyday electronics, Such as smart phonesl Electric vehicles and Military equipment.
China has A near monopoly on rare earthsrecently threatened to expand export controls on items to further leverage its dominance of the supply chain. However, after an in-person meeting in South Korea on Thursday between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Beijing agreed to postpone the talks. October 9 Export controls for one year.
Rare earth stocks listed in the United States They huddled over the newsAlthough analysts remain skeptical about whether an apparent trade truce can provide long-term relief.
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a bilateral meeting at Gimhae International Airport, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, in Busan, South Korea, October 30, 2025.
Evelyn Hochstein | Reuters
“As in all booms, there were a lot of oil companies that couldn’t find oil, and there were a lot of gold companies that couldn’t find gold. And I’m sure there will be a lot of rare earth companies that won’t make it either — because when there’s a boom, there’s hype. And when there’s hype, there’s an abundance of investment,” said Critical Metals’ Sage.
“It’s not a straight rise. It’s a winding line, but the trend is going in the right direction if you have the right project in the right place, and you have the right partners,” he added.
“A much larger and longer supercycle.”
Kevin Das, senior technical advisor at New Frontier Minerals, an Australia-based rare earths exploration company, agreed with Sage’s description of the rare earths market boom, while acknowledging the potential for a decline in stock prices.
“People say we’re on an uptrend in terms of a larger supercycle, and some of the evidence behind that is that commodity prices have been down for some time, and there’s been a lack of investment,” Das told CNBC by phone. “And now, with the advent of artificial intelligence… we’re going to see a much larger and longer supercycle.”
Das drew parallels to the Biden administration Support clean energy projectswhich coincided with A Lithium-related stocks riseAnd the Trump administration’s support for rare earths.
Important metal stocks over the past three months.
“In the last nine to 10 months that Trump has been in office, it’s been talked about Annexation of GreenlandHe talked about it Making a deal with Ukraine on rare earth elements And then the real clincher was this Stock deal with MP MaterialsDas said.
“So, I think the runway over the next two or three years will be very productive,” he added.
However, not everyone is optimistic about the outlook for rare earth element-related stocks.
Audun Martinsen, head of supply chain research at Rystad Energy, said the recent rise in share prices reflects a combination of geopolitical tensions, strategic policy support and speculative momentum.
“It is clear that rare earths have moved to the center of global industrial strategy, and are vital for defence, electric vehicles and clean energy, but this looks more like the early stages of a structural shift than a mature fourth boom,” Martinsen told CNBC via email.
Neodymium is on display at Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Co.’s factory. In Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China, on Wednesday, May 5, 2010.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
He continued: “We are moving from the philosophy of ‘bridging the gap’ through imports to ‘bridging the gap’ locally and regionally.” “It will be a long, expensive and difficult way forward, as adequate and cost-effective resources and diversity of elements are complex to gain full control over.”
Transition to clean energy
Gernot Wagner, a climate economist at Columbia University, said there are two clear factors at play as global competition to secure supplies of vital minerals intensifies — one structural and one political.
“Structural: Despite any political attempts there may be to stop or derail things, the clean energy transition is happening — and accelerating — and yes, it depends on a number of important metals, the prices of which are bound to jump,” Wagner told CNBC via email.
China, for example, is the low-cost supplier of many of these minerals, Wagner said, noting that the Asian giant’s mineral dominance is by no means a coincidence.
“Beijing has invested heavily in green industrial policy for years, focusing on the complete and integrated supply chain. This is where politics comes into play,” Wagner said.
He added: “Some attempts at onshore supply chains are largely justified for national security and other reasons, and those attempts will lead to increased prices and inventories for US mining companies. Some of what we are seeing, of course, is just current politics or erratic trade wars and the like.”
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