Today's chart & trading, page-515

Lynas LT ROW contracts are progressively moving on to an economic value basis as distinct from the historical Chinese spot trade, their pending cap on export volumes 44ktpa 2020 will no doubt help focus attention.

Adjunct to that process is the value add to customer specification which clearly implies a specific value to the individual customer > "Due to the success of our quality improvement program, we achieved record sales volumes of Ce and La to key customers outside China." < obviously not quantified at this point but we do know the capacity to produce 75% of La & Ce as oxides has recently been installed, complete with the ability to produce higher specification in process, and higher rates of recovery. Most likely these volumes will continue to rise as customer demand expands, certainly won't be priced to Dragon spot.

Additionally some 25% of NdPr will be separated to NdO & PrO with 100% directed to ROW mkts where numerous opportunities for higher values are available.

As an extension, new blends are now possible across the LREO suite, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, in individual proportions to customer specifications, they won't be priced to China spot. I.e. a couple of data sheets from Neo, but similar individual formulations apply to other segments, notably catalyst mkts:

https://mqitechnology.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/msds-mqp-7-8-20171-070-r06-ce.pdf

https://mqitechnology.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/msds-mqp-11-8-20222-070-r06-ce.pdf

Speaking of Neo, another trick in the tool box is tolling to metals, no doubt some premium at scale performing that base task for particular customers.

LynasNext is grossly underestimated for the versatility/value it will add to the product range, for a pittance, plus significantly higher recoveries, at minimal additional OpEx. One of the difficulties is there is no template, no benchmark Lynas progress can be measured against, they are completely in uncharted territory, which inevitably scares people.

The very obvious upside that most should be able to grasp is that Lynas is now moving aggressively towards placing 100% production ROW, well clear of Chinese "cabbage" spot, at a cost/kg that will startle most.