Terbium Supply Chain: Producers and Processing

Terbium is a heavy rare earth element and the most valuable of the itemised rare earths, with an oxide price of $1,010 per kilogram in 2025. USGS reports production only for all rare earths combined: in 2025 China produced an estimated 270,000 t of rare earth oxide equivalent, 69% of the world total (USGS world total: 390,000 t). US net import reliance for terbium in 2025 was 100% for heavy rare earth compounds and metals. Terbium is on all four official critical minerals lists: the US, EU, Australian and Canadian.

Which countries produce terbium?

How is terbium traded and what limits supply?

• 2025 to 2026. Lynas first produced separated dysprosium and terbium oxides in its 2025 financial year. Iluka Resources' Eneabba refinery in Western Australia, still under construction, is designed for 750 tons a year of dysprosium-terbium oxide, with neodymium-praseodymium oxide capacity of 5,500 tons a year (Lynas and Iluka, August 2026).
• August 2025. The US Department of War provided a rare earths producer at Mountain Pass, California with a $150 million direct loan to build a heavy rare earths separation facility. In 2025 it also lent $80 million to a recycler in Marion, Indiana and awarded $5.1 million to a recycler in Houston to recover rare earths including terbium and dysprosium.
• October to November 2025. An Australian producer announced its intent to build a facility in Malaysia to separate heavy rare earths including terbium, dysprosium and lutetium. A mine in Brazil produced mixed concentrates from ionic clays with elevated terbium and dysprosium, and in November the US International Development Finance Corporation approved a $465 million loan to the company to increase heavy rare earth production.
• April to November 2025. China added terbium to its export controls in April 2025 and in early October expanded them to all heavy rare earths, then suspended the October expansion for a year in November. The April controls remained in effect, although China began issuing general licenses to selected exporters.

US import sources, 2021 to 2024. Terbium compounds and metals: China, 100%. (USGS)

Export controls and trade measures

• China has required export licenses for rare earths since 2025. USGS lists this element among those added in the April 2025 measures: samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium.

Frequently asked questions

Which country produces the most terbium?

USGS does not report terbium separately; China produced the most rare earths of any country in 2025, an estimated 270,000 t (69%) of the world's 390,000 t of rare earth oxide equivalent.

What is terbium used for?

Terbium is used in high-strength magnets, fluorescent lamps and other heavy rare earth uses. High-strength magnets: among the heavy rare earth uses USGS lists.

Is terbium a critical mineral?

Yes. Terbium is on all four official critical minerals lists: the US, EU, Australian and Canadian. Terbium was already on the 2022 US list and stays on the final 2025 list of 60 minerals. US net import reliance for terbium in 2025 was 100% for heavy rare earth compounds and metals.

Can terbium be recycled?

Small quantities of heavy rare earths were recovered from permanent magnets.

Sources

Read on October 13, 2026. Figures on this page come from these documents; where a number is an estimate, the source says so.

1. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare earths. Production, reserves, uses, substitutes, recycling and events
2. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare earths (heavy)
3. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: introduction (Table 7 and Figures 10A and 10B). Net import reliance, leading producer and price changes for critical minerals
4. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: introduction (Table 4, export controls by country)
5. Lynas Rare Earths: 2026 Annual Report and Appendix 4E (26 August 2026). Company statements on its heavy rare earth products and plans
6. Iluka Resources: 2026 Half Year Results presentation (19 August 2026). Company statements on the Eneabba refinery design
7. USGS Fact Sheet 087-02: Rare Earth Elements, Critical Resources for High Technology (2002). Used for the uses of individual elements; it dates from 2002
8. Regulation (EU) 2024/1252, Annex I. Lists neodymium, praseodymium, terbium, dysprosium, gadolinium, samarium and cerium as rare earths for permanent magnets
9. Federal Register: Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals
10. EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2024/1252
11. Department of Industry, Science and Resources: Australia’s Critical Minerals List and Strategic Materials List
12. Government of Canada: Canada’s critical minerals
13. EarthRarest price list. Dealer list price, read October 14, 2026; our sister business
14. Energy Fuels, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 June 2026
15. Neo Performance Materials: heavy rare earth line commissioned at Silmet (10 April 2026)
16. Solvay: roadshow presentation after first-quarter 2026 results
17. MP Materials, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 June 2026
18. Aclara Resources: release on the Carina and Project Dynamo technical reports (13 April 2026)
19. NioCorp: Elk Creek project page (2026 technical report of 10 August 2026)
20. China Northern Rare Earth: 2025 annual report, in Chinese (17 April 2026)
21. China Rare Earth Group Resource Technology: 2025 annual report, in Chinese (April 2026)
22. Xiamen Tungsten: 2025 annual report, in Chinese (24 April 2026)