Interesting article, page-279

My thinking is that the oddness of the AUS gov's Iluka / Eneabba investment is tied to the fact that Lynas's output was and still is largely promised to and contracted to Japan.

That said, Iluka is reasonable and available second REE player. Bolting on an REE refinery to monetize the long-standing monazite tailings Iluka had accumulated as part of the thorium-cleanup of their Ti-mineral sands makes a LOT of sense.

China cannot be trusted; that is what they have proven. No CEO can look at current events without cringing if his supply chain goes through the Chinese Communist Party, which recently claimed ownership of all REE and all REE-related IP. Much tighter controls are being talked about now.

I am all for Iluka as a second player. I don't like sole suppliers in major industrial supply chains. And no one can look at the history of Lynas in BRICS-aligned Islamic-ruled Malaysia and think "secure supply". One boom 'til doom. Lynas and Malaysia do seem to be on the same page at the moment (not that we have any real clarity on that) but that makes me thankful, not secure.

China's CCP strategy is to consume all the REEs they refine domestically (except La/Ce which they will dump as possible). They want to consume all the magnets they make as well. They want to sell consumer goods and finished products. They want a trillion-dollar budget surplus every year. That is the economic power they have been working towards for decades.