Latest News About Rare Earths Americas

Here’s the latest on rare earths in the Americas, based on recent reporting up to May 2026.

Short answer

• The Americas are seeing renewed activity around rare earths, including new mining projects, exploration, and supply-chain diversification efforts driven by U.S. and allied initiatives to reduce dependence on China.[1][2][3]

Key developments

United States and Canada

• First new U.S. rare earth mining milestone: In 2025, there were notable ceremonies marking the opening of Brook Mine Carbon Ore Rare Earth project in Wyoming, described as the first new U.S. rare earth mine in more than 70 years. This underscores a push to bring domestic production online to support critical minerals supply chains.[1]
• Heavy rare earths exploration in North America: U.S.-based Rare Earths Americas (REA) announced plans in 2025 to develop high-grade assets in the U.S. and Brazil, focusing on heavy rare earths with surface monazite sands rich in dysprosium and terbium, signaling broadening domestic and regional capabilities beyond light rare earths.[2]

Latin America

• Brazil’s portfolio of assets: REA’s projects in Brazil (Alpha, Constellation, Homer) are notable for ionic clay and carbonatite sources with potential for dysprosium, terbium, neodymium and praseodymium, indicating active diversification of supply sources in South America.[2]
• Continued exploration and potential processing linkages: Reports in 2025–2026 point to ongoing exploration and potential downstream processing or refining partnerships in the Americas to support non-Chinese supply chains.[3][4]

Notable industry trends

• Diversification away from China: A broad pattern across the Americas includes financing, partnerships, and project development aimed at reducing reliance on Chinese supply chains for rare earths, including heavy rare earths.[4]
• Recycling and refining activity: Some coverage notes U.S. and ally programs emphasizing magnet recycling and heavy rare earth refining to bootstrap domestic capabilities, complementing mining projects.[4]

What this means for you

• If you’re tracking investment or policy impact, the next 12–24 months are likely to show more announcements around new mines, exploration licenses, and potential offtake agreements in the Americas, particularly in the U.S. and Brazil.[1][2]
• For supply-chain risk assessment, expect increasing emphasis on heavy rare earths (like dysprosium and terbium) due to magnet applications in EVs and defense, with several projects targeting these elements in the Americas.[2]

If you’d like, I can pull the most recent headlines from specific sources (e.g., Argus, GlobeNewswire, or NewsNow) and summarize them in a quick digest or build a short timeline of major milestones. I can also create a chart showing the timeline of announced projects by country if you want a visual overview.