Tokyo [Japan], March 16: Japanese trading house Sojitz Corp said it will expand imports of rare earth elements from Australia to diversify supply sources of the strategically critical materials essential to high-tech industries in a market dominated by China.
Sojitz said in a press release that it will begin importing samarium in the April-June quarter. The rare earth metal is used in nuclear reactor control rods and powerful magnets for transportation, defense and commercial technologies.
In the first commercial production of samarium outside China, the ore will be extracted from a mine in Western Australia and processed at a new separation and purification plant in Malaysia, Sojitz public relation officials told Kyodo News.
Sojitz has partnered with Lynas Rare Earths Ltd, the largest rare-earth producer in Australia and the owner of the Malaysian processing facility. The import volume of samarium, whose annual demand in Japan is estimated at roughly 80 tons, has yet to be fixed, the officials said.
Investing about 38 billion yen in Lynas since 2011, together with the government-backed Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security, Sojitz began procuring four light rare earths -- lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium and neodymium -- from Australia that year.
Last October, Sojitz started importing dysprosium and terbium, key materials for high-performance magnets used for electric vehicles and electronic devices. The two elements are categorized as "heavy rare earths," which are generally considered demanding and costly to refine compared with light ones.s
Source: Qatar Tribune
