# Lynas and US miners take Brazil rare earths before runoff *A $2.8 billion US deal and Lynas's $672 million takeover lock up heavy rare earths as Brazil's new critical minerals law faces an Oct. 25 presidential runoff.* **Published:** October 23, 2026 **By:** Mina Okoro **Section:** Semiconductors & AI Hardware — Cross-border **Source:** https://eastasiabrief.com/semiconductors/lynas-us-miners-take-brazil-rare-earths-before-runoff-881 **Publisher:** East Asia Brief (https://eastasiabrief.com/) --- ## What to know - Western mining companies accelerated asset purchases in Brazil on Oct. - The race centers on the world's largest known ionic clay deposits outside China. - China currently refines roughly 90% of global heavy rare earth oxides. ![A worker sits inside an excavator at an open-pit mine where heavy equipment digs into clay deposits in Brazil. (AI-generated image)](https://eastasiabrief.com/media/2026-10-23-8c0d5e62316d.webp) *A worker sits inside an excavator at an open-pit mine where heavy equipment digs into clay deposits in Brazil. (AI-generated image)* Western mining companies accelerated asset purchases in Brazil on Oct. 23, 2026, seeking non-Chinese heavy rare earths two days before a polarized presidential election that threatens foreign resource ownership. The race centers on the world's largest known ionic clay deposits outside China. Commercial buyers require these clay formations to secure dysprosium and terbium, magnetic elements essential for electric drive motors. China currently refines roughly 90% of global heavy rare earth oxides. That single-source bottleneck has forced Western automotive and defense supply chains to underwrite alternative extraction hubs across South America. Corporate commitments in Brazil have reached $3.47 billion within seven weeks. Capital pledges target two central open-pit provinces capable of yielding combined annual output of more than 10,000 metric tons of separated oxides. USA Rare Earth closed its $2.8 billion acquisition of Serra Verde Group on Sept. 3, 2026. The transaction transferred ownership of the Pela Ema mine in Goiás state. The Pela Ema site is the only operating ionic clay mine outside Asia. It yields all four magnetic elements, including neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium, from an active commercial deposit. The asset operates at a Phase 1 design capacity of 6,400 metric tons of total rare earth oxide equivalent per year. That volume represents approximately 3% of global magnetic oxide demand. USA Rare Earth funded the deal with $300 million in cash and 126.85 million newly issued common shares. Serra Verde's institutional vendors retained a 34% equity interest in the combined entity. A US government-backed special purpose vehicle capitalized with $1.55 billion supports the Pela Ema project. The structure guarantees 15 years of commercial off-take through fixed price floors. Those contract terms set floor prices at $110 per kilogram for neodymium-praseodymium, $575 for dysprosium and $2,050 for terbium. The price floors protect extraction margins against state-subsidized discounting by Chinese refiners. Australia's Lynas Rare Earths struck a separate takeover pact on Oct. 1, 2026. The company signed a binding deed to acquire Meteoric Resources in an all-stock buyout valued at 968 million Australian dollars ($672 million). Meteoric holds the Caldeira ionic clay project in Minas Gerais state. The deposit holds 128 million metric tons of ionic clay resources with high concentrations of magnetic heavy elements. Lynas agreed to issue 0.0207 new shares for every Meteoric share held. Meteoric shareholders will own roughly 5% of Lynas upon transaction closing. Caldeira provides Lynas with non-hard-rock mineral feedstock for its cracking and downstream separation plants in Malaysia and Australia. The company plans capital spending exceeding $500 million to build processing lines at the site. Western downstream magnet producers remain vulnerable despite the mining agreements. Brazilian sites currently yield mixed rare earth carbonate rather than pure separated metals. South Korean and Japanese permanent magnet makers require refined metal alloys. As a result, Brazilian raw concentrates must still undergo chemical separation in third countries before entering magnet production. Regulatory risks inside Brazil have intensified alongside commercial investments. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed Law No. 15,506 on Sept. 16, 2026, which took effect the following day. The statute establishes the National Council for the Industrialization of Critical and Strategic Minerals, known as CIMCE. The cabinet-level body reviews foreign equity transfers involving domestic mineral rights. The legislation empowers CIMCE to mandate domestic refining and curb raw mineral exports. Decree No. 13,118 sets domestic beneficiation quotas on unrefined rare earth mixtures shipped abroad. Those regulatory restrictions face a fundamental test in Brazil's presidential runoff. The country's political factions offer conflicting approaches to foreign control over strategic extraction assets. Right-wing senator Flávio Bolsonaro won 47.03% of the vote in the first round on Oct. 4, 2026. Incumbent President Lula secured 45.16%, forcing the decisive second round. Bolsonaro advocates deregulation, pledging to disband CIMCE oversight and ease export restrictions on foreign concessionaires. His platform seeks unfettered Western mining investment across central Brazil. Lula maintains a resource nationalist doctrine, insisting that foreign mining corporations build domestic separation refineries. His policy conditions mining licences on local industrial value creation. A victory by Lula could delay export permits for Lynas and USA Rare Earth until both operators commit capital to domestic metal reduction facilities. A Bolsonaro administration would likely waive domestic processing mandates. The official notices do not state whether Brazil's mining agency or electoral court has issued orders to pause pending asset approvals before the vote. The regulatory files contain no administrative freeze decrees. Brazilian citizens vote in the presidential runoff on Oct. 25, 2026. Meteoric shareholders vote on the Lynas scheme in January 2027, with formal closing scheduled for March 2027. ## Primary sources 1. usare.com 2. eai.or.kr 3. sec.gov 4. mt.co.kr 5. washingtontimes.com --- Cite as: East Asia Brief, "Lynas and US miners take Brazil rare earths before runoff," October 23, 2026. https://eastasiabrief.com/semiconductors/lynas-us-miners-take-brazil-rare-earths-before-runoff-881