Rare Earth Elements — The Magnet Minerals

Why Rare Earths Matter

Rare earth elements are essential for the powerful permanent magnets used in electric vehicle motors, wind turbine generators, and defence systems. Neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets, which require neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr), are irreplaceable in these applications. China's dominance of rare earth mining (60%) and particularly processing (90%) creates one of the most concentrated supply chain vulnerabilities in the critical minerals landscape.

Longonjo: The Corridor's Rare Earth Breakthrough

Pensana's Longonjo project in Angola, located 60km west of Huambo directly adjacent to the Benguela Railway, represents the most advanced Western rare earth development in Africa. With $268 million in funding secured (March 2025) and construction underway, Longonjo targets first production in 2027.

The November 2025 offtake agreement with Vacuumschmelze (VAC), which routes Longonjo mixed rare earth concentrate to VAC's eVAC Magnetics factory in South Carolina, creates an entirely China-free supply chain from African mine to American magnet factory. This aligns with the Trump administration's Project Vault critical minerals initiative and positions Longonjo as a strategic asset in the rare earth supply chain competition.

Corridor Integration

Longonjo is the Lobito Corridor's most direct rare earth connection. Located adjacent to the Benguela Railway, the project will use corridor rail logistics to transport concentrate to Lobito port for export. This makes Longonjo a flagship demonstration of how corridor infrastructure enables diversification of African mineral exports beyond copper and cobalt. Phase 2 expansion to 40,000 tpa MREC (targeting 2029) could supply approximately 5% of global magnet feedstock demand.

The Longonjo Opportunity

Pensana's Longonjo rare earths project in Angola represents the corridor's primary rare earth opportunity. Located in Huíla Province, Longonjo contains a significant deposit of neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) — the rare earth elements most critical for permanent magnets used in EV motors and wind turbines. The Pensana investment positions Angola as a potential new entrant in a market dominated by China.

Pensana's strategy includes a separation facility in Saltend, UK, designed to process Longonjo concentrates into separated rare earth oxides without Chinese involvement. If successful, the Longonjo-Saltend supply chain would represent one of the first fully non-Chinese rare earth processing chains for NdPr — a significant achievement in critical mineral supply chain diversification. The concentrates would be exported through Angolan ports, potentially including Lobito as the corridor develops.

Chinese Rare Earth Dominance

China's dominance of rare earth supply chains is the most extreme of any critical mineral group. China controls approximately 60% of rare earth mining, 90% of rare earth processing, and 92% of rare earth magnet manufacturing. This near-monopoly on the entire value chain from mine to magnet gives China extraordinary leverage over global clean energy and defence supply chains.

China has demonstrated willingness to weaponise this dominance. Export restrictions on rare earths in 2010 during a diplomatic dispute with Japan caused prices to spike 10-fold and triggered a global scramble for alternative sources. More recent export controls on germanium, gallium, and antimony signal continued willingness to use mineral supply chains as geopolitical tools.

The EU's Critical Raw Materials Act and the US Inflation Reduction Act both target rare earth supply chain diversification. Longonjo is one of a handful of projects globally that could contribute to this diversification over the next decade.

Permanent Magnet Demand

The NdPr rare earths used in permanent magnets are the most strategically critical of the 17 rare earth elements. Electric vehicle traction motors require approximately 1-2 kg of NdPr magnets per vehicle. Offshore wind turbines require 600-700 kg of permanent magnets per megawatt of capacity. Industrial robotics, drone motors, and defence applications all require NdPr magnets.

Demand for NdPr is projected to more than double by 2030, driven almost entirely by EV motors and wind turbines. Supply outside China remains severely constrained, creating a structural deficit that non-Chinese projects like Longonjo aim to address. The premium pricing available for non-Chinese NdPr — driven by regulatory preferences and supply chain security requirements — enhances the economics of projects like Longonjo.

Corridor Strategic Dimension

Rare earths connect the Lobito Corridor to the global permanent magnet and clean energy supply chain. While Longonjo is geographically distant from the core Copperbelt corridor route, its location in Angola and potential export through Angolan ports links it to the corridor's broader strategic narrative: African minerals for the energy transition, exported through Western-aligned infrastructure.

Rare Earth Separation and Processing

Rare earth elements present unique processing challenges because the 17 elements occur together in ore deposits and are chemically similar, making separation difficult and expensive. Separation plants require large capital investment ($500 million+), specialised chemical engineering, and management of radioactive waste (thorium and uranium naturally co-occur with rare earths). China has invested decades in developing this processing expertise.

Pensana's Saltend processing hub in the UK represents one of the few Western attempts to build independent rare earth separation capacity. The hub is designed to process concentrates from Longonjo and potentially other sources into separated rare earth oxides suitable for magnet manufacturing. Success at Saltend would demonstrate that non-Chinese rare earth processing is technically and economically viable — a proof of concept with implications far beyond Pensana's own supply chain.

Rare Earth Geopolitics: The Mineral Arms Race

Rare earths are the front line of the mineral geopolitics that the Lobito Corridor embodies. China's 2010 rare earth export restrictions demonstrated that mineral supply chains could be weaponised. Since then, the US, EU, Japan, and others have invested billions in rare earth supply chain diversification — with limited success. China's continued dominance reflects not just geological endowment but decades of strategic industrial policy, environmental tolerance, and processing investment that Western nations are only beginning to match.

The US Department of Defense has funded rare earth processing research and stockpile acquisition. The EU's Critical Raw Materials Act sets targets for domestic rare earth processing. Australia's Lynas Corporation operates the only large-scale non-Chinese rare earth processing plant (in Malaysia). MP Materials operates the Mountain Pass mine in California. Yet Chinese dominance persists because separation and magnet manufacturing — the highest-value steps — remain overwhelmingly Chinese.

Longonjo and the corridor's rare earth dimension must be understood in this context. A single mine in Angola will not break Chinese rare earth dominance. But as part of a broader Western strategy to diversify supply chains across multiple projects, regions, and processing facilities, Longonjo contributes to a portfolio approach that gradually reduces vulnerability. Our monitoring tracks this strategic dimension alongside the commercial and community impacts of rare earth development in Angola.

Rare Earth Recycling and Urban Mining

Rare earth recycling from end-of-life products is technically possible but economically challenging. Less than 1% of rare earths are currently recycled, compared to 30%+ for metals like copper, gold, and tin. The difficulty arises from rare earths' dispersed use in small quantities across diverse products, the complexity of separating individual rare earth elements, and the low cost of primary production that makes recycling uneconomic at current scales.

Research into rare earth recycling from permanent magnets, fluorescent lamps, and electronics is advancing in Europe, Japan, and the US. If recycling economics improve, secondary rare earth supply could reduce demand for primary production. However, given the projected tripling of NdPr demand for EV motors and wind turbines, recycling alone cannot meet demand growth. New primary production from projects like Longonjo remains essential to the energy transition timeline.

For the corridor, rare earth recycling research is relevant as context for understanding long-term demand dynamics. Even optimistic recycling scenarios leave substantial demand for primary NdPr production through the 2030s and beyond. Longonjo's strategic value persists across recycling scenarios because the energy transition timeline requires more rare earth supply than recycling can provide within the relevant timeframe.

Related Pages

Corridor mines: Longonjo

Key companies: Pensana

Related minerals: Germanium (also subject to China export controls)

Countries: DR Congo · Zambia · Angola