This article is a sponsored feature from Mining.com.au partner ABx Group. It is not financial advice. Talk to a registered financial expert before making investment decisions.
“A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.”
This quote, attributed to acclaimed business author and motivational speaker Michael LeBoeuf, emphasises prioritising customer needs as more effective for business longevity and fostering loyalty than complex, short-term strategies.
Emerging rare earths developer ABx Group (ASX:ABX) has long been taking this ‘satisfied customer is the best business strategy’ approach.
As a first mover – ABx is the first to discover rare earths in Tasmania – the company is positioning itself to help lead Australia’s charge towards developing a sovereign rare earths supply chain.
And by all measures the company is emerging as one of the strongest links in this chain. Its flagship Deep Leads – Rubble Mound and Wind Break deposits have a reported JORC-compliant mineral resource of 89 million tonnes. The resource contains 36 parts per million DyTb (dysprosium and terbium) – the highest of any clay-hosted rare earths resource in Australia and one of the highest in the world.
Within the suite of the 17 nearly indistinguishable lustrous silvery-white soft rare earths, the greatest demand increase is for the four permanent magnet rare earths, which include dysprosium and terbium.
Importantly, ABx is early in establishing links and partnerships within the island state and Australia to not only participate, but take a leading role.
“Our strategy is to engage with customers just as we would for any product or service”
This is a competitive advantage. As governments step deeper into funding, permitting, and offtake discussions in order to develop Western supply chains, CEO Dr Mark Cooksey tells Mining.com.au companies like ABx can preserve commercial discipline and avoid becoming policy-led rather than market-led by simply focusing on the end user – the customer.
In many rare earth circles, there’s conversations around government interest oftentimes being framed as unequivocally positive although, as the CEO makes clear, there is a difference between helpful policy support and market distortion.
But these issues exist in the background. The forefront of ABx’s focus is very much getting the highest quality – and lowest cost – mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) product to market.
“Our strategy is to engage with customers just as we would for any product or service. If ABx and its customers cannot create a supply chain because of a particular market failure, then we can jointly approach governments to advocate for policies that address that specific issue,” the CEO tells this news service.
“ABx is foremost focused on identifying the best customers for its products. We advocate policies to governments that support our strategy for engaging with customers.”
Artificially high barriers to entry
After all, a satisfied customer is the best business strategy. However, even the best laid plans can go awry when macroeconomic and geopolitical forces beyond one’s control can change the rules of the game. Or at the very least interfere unnecessarily.
Case in point – the global rare earths sector’s value chain is dominated by a single country – China. This has led to artificially higher barriers to entry for new market entrants. And it very much is full dominance. China controls roughly 70% of REEs mining, 90% of processing, and 93% of magnet manufacturing as of 2026.
This is a form of market failure, Cooksey says, adding it’s therefore appropriate for government intervention – to a degree.
From a national budget perspective, ABx prefers such involvement to be limited in time and scope, and temporary in nature, in order to rectify this market failure in order for the value chain to function on its own merits.
“Government policy should be designed to solve market failure, not just compensate for it, potentially indefinitely,” Cooksey tells Mining.com.au.
“It can be really hard to design the most effective assistance in a way that helps create our rare earth value chain, but not become a permanent compensation to uncompetitive industries.
“Another challenge for industry is that because it’s government policy, it can change.”
This point was illustrated on 29 January 2026 amid emerging reports US President Donald Trump was suggesting abandoning mandated price floors for rare earths products, spurring doubts about his administration’s commitment to breaking China’s stranglehold on the market.
These reports created uncertainty around expectations that all US producers would gain access to the same floor price incentive offered to US fully integrated rare earths producer MP Materials (NYSE:MP) in July 2025, which guarantees a price of at least US$110 per kilogram – well above market pricing.
“To me, that reinforces the sensitivity of this situation. If you’re highly dependent on government policy, then you’re highly sensitive to it, both positive and negative” the CEO adds.
In the short term, a price floor policy will likely provide additional revenue to a producer, which Cooksey notes is a good thing. However, it means that a true market price cannot be determined, making it difficult for other participants to innovate.
This is a missed opportunity to use the strengths of the market economy. A better strategy, the CEO adds, is to become less sensitive to public policy by trying to create a high quality project where regulatory frameworks become a secondary benefit or a support – “not the be all and end all of your project”.
Western economics: Paying a premium
From ABx’s vantage point, ‘smart intervention’ starts with the strengths of the sector and political system in which the rare earths are domiciled. The power of the Western economic system is adaptability – people can identify opportunities and challenges, and have the freedom to take risks and seek rewards.
“Our government interventions should support these strengths. Large-scale, sustained state intervention is more politically difficult in the West and may not be the best long-term national strategy,” the CEO continues.
ABx’s strengths lie in it being a first mover, having a high-value, low-cost project, and a clearly defined primary focus on delivering for end users.
“Understanding the customer is crucial to successful project development, and this is not straightforward. It is the customer demand that will dictate the MREC (mixed rare earth carbonate) product requirements, which will in turn drive the capital and operating costs of the project,” Cooksey says.
With this in mind, a major strategic decision for ABx is whether to produce an intermediate product, such as an MREC, or move further downstream to produce separated rare earth oxides. This means there is scope to proceed without the need for a separation plant.
Cooksey reiterates the company is in a fortunate position to be able to produce an MREC with relatively low capex. In fact, such is the attractiveness of Deep Leads that rhetorically speaking, even if the world’s governments “no longer directly intervened in the rare earth market”, ABx would continue advancing the Tasmania-based project. This is because there is significant demand growth for rare earths in a number of sectors – everything with an electric motor – not just defence applications.
High global ranking, low-cost quartile
That’s strong conviction for a rare earths sector in which Australia is lagging behind in terms of downstream processing. But the proof is in the pudding.
ABx’s deposits in Tasmania rank highly on a global scale – they are ionic (low-cost metallurgy), have a high proportion of heavy rare earths, and are situated close to infrastructure.
These advantages remain irrespective of the geopolitical situation and government policy. These things of course are important, but remain secondary to ABx’s main focus.
“In the end, what we want is a robust supply chain for our society. We want it to be that if an Australian wants to buy an EV, that they can. The best way of doing that is to ensure a diverse global supply chain,” Cooksey tells Mining.com.au.
“In the end, what we want is a robust supply chain for our society. We want it to be that if an Australian wants to buy an EV, that they can. The best way of doing that is to ensure a diverse global supply chain”
“The current issue is that the global rare earths supply chain is overly dependent on one country. This needs to be addressed, but we also have to be conscious of not solving this supply chain dependency by creating another one.
“If we were totally dependent on the US Government, then, well, you’re at the whim of the US Government, which one might argue that’s better than being at the whim of China, but it’s still risky.
“The ideal scenario is to have a diverse supply chain. Hypothetically, an Australian company supplying a third of its production to each of three plants in North America, Japan and Europe is in a far more secure position.”
Deep Leads in the assembly line
There is recognition that geopolitics and government policy is largely beyond ABx’s control. What it can steward is assembling the value chain links needed to produce an MREC enriched in dysprosium and terbium – the two heavy rare earths with the highest value and most acute supply risk, as reported.
This involves undertaking due diligence on potential partners in a measured way to identify suitable customers while engaging other stakeholders interested in Deep Leads’ development journey.
Beyond this, competing with China on a quality and cost basis becomes increasingly important.
“We need new supply,” Cooksey says, adding “history shows the ones that are most likely to enter the market are the ones at the lower end of the cost curve.”
“If you can be on the lowest point of the cost curve, in rare earths, you’ve got a good chance. That’s what we’re trying to be.
“The government assistance is a bonus, and it may be necessary or helpful just to get over the hurdle of commencing production. But we hope to stand on our own too.”
Linking ambitions with actuality
While ABx has a particular stance about government intervention, interestingly it’s a government agency that is helping it deliver increasingly positive results.
ABx has been engaging the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) to conduct desorption tests. ANSTO has produced the first mixed rare earth carbonate product from the Deep Leads deposit, with dysprosium and terbium content 2.8 to 4.7 times higher than peer MRECs.
In January 2026, ABx recorded ‘outstanding’ results from two rare earth column leach tests conducted by ANSTO as part of ongoing metallurgical studies at Deep Leads.
Column tests were conducted on 26kg bulk samples and results indicate over 80% extraction of ‘high-value’ heavy rare earths, including dysprosium and terbium, exceeding the company’s expectations and confirming that high extractions can be achieved using a range of flowsheet options.
Cooksey says these results are better than anticipated and suggest heap leach could be superior to tank leach. Heap leaching is being investigated because it is potentially lower capital cost and more flexible than tank leaching, which is aligned with its strategy to enter commercial production as soon as possible.
Additionally, the column leach solution product has a higher heavy earth content and low impurities, so ABx is likely to engage ANSTO to produce an MREC from this solution.
This will be its second MREC product, and will be provided to a range of potential customers that are expressing “very strong interest in the ABx MREC because of its exceptionally high dysprosium and terbium content”.
As such, using these column leach results, ABx continues engaging engineering partners on project design options, focusing on faster, cheaper, lower risk alternatives regarding project development.
Deep Leads / Rubble Mound mineralisation being of the ionic absorption clay variety is important – they’re highly valued for their ability to provide low-cost, environmentally friendlier, and sustainable supplies of rare earth elements, particularly Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREEs).
These deposits contain rare earths adsorbed physically to the clay minerals surface, mainly kaolinite and halloysite. Many clay-hosted deposits only have a small proportion that is ionic, with the remainder being a non-ionic component.
Future Made in Australia
These latest results come as the Australian Government in early January announced new details of its $1.2 billion Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve, which seeks to secure the supply of key minerals vital for the country’s economy, national security, and Future Made in Australia ambitions.
The reserve’s initial focus is on antimony, gallium, as well as rare earths to give added certainty to Australian projects, attract further investment, and help the sector deal with potential future market disruptions.
Part of the reserve includes $1 billion for transactions to be drawn from the expanded $5 billion Critical Minerals Facility, which provides government-backed loans and equity support for projects. A further $185 million is allocated for selective stockpiling of minerals, where required, and other implementation costs.
The reserve will support collaboration with international partners to diversify critical minerals supply chains, including Japan, Republic of Korea, Europe, Canada, the US, and UK. The government will advance consultation with international partners on developing collaborative efforts to maximise the impact of the CMSR on global supply chains.
Amid this backdrop, ABx’s CEO explains to Mining.com.au that the country must ensure it’s also implementing systems and processes to support this ‘new industry’, such as appropriate environmental regulation, while not burdening companies with unnecessary red and green tape.
“That means we absolutely want to do things to the best standard, but equally, there needs to be an efficient process. We can’t have a project that takes five years to approve when it should take two,” Cooksey adds.
“Reasonable energy prices, effective environmental regulation, these important things just to give us a good starting point. Then it is up to them (the government) to work closely with the industry and the finance sector.”
“Inappropriate (government) intervention can lead to negative impacts, such as the wrong horse being backed, or too much money being spent backing too many horses. Close consultation between industry, the finance sector and government is required to design optimum government policy,” the CEO says.
Magnetism of rare earths
Over the next 10 years, the Minerals Council of Australia reports demand growth is expected for most rare earth elements. This will mainly be supported by rapid increases in the manufacturing of permanent magnets deployed in offshore wind turbines and in the drive trains of most electric vehicles.
In the Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) projects demand for neodymium in particular to rise between 73% and 113% between 2020 and 2030. This means 31 kt in 2020 will rise to up to 66 kt in 2030.
But as ABx CEO Dr Mark Cooksey reiterates, it’s difficult to introduce new supply, because rare earth resources have complex metallurgy. Another challenge – other than finding the right customers – is competing with China on a cost basis or engaging with customers willing to pay a premium for a quality product, as Western nations build out their downstream processing markets.
Australia wants to build a sovereign rare earths supply chain. When asked whether too much protection or assistance ultimately makes local projects less globally competitive, Cooksey doesn’t flinch.
“Australia has seen this before. Through much of the 20th century, the government applied significant tariffs to imported manufactured goods to protect the Australian manufacturing sector,” the CEO explains to Mining.com.au.
“Eventually, in the 1980s, the government decided that this was no longer financially sustainable and implemented a program to significantly reduce tariffs over a few years. Many manufacturers were unable to adapt to the new policy settings in such a short time.
“This illustrates how the ideal government policy is targeted and temporary, not indefinite.”
Is history about to repeat? Watch this space.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: ABx, Regional Development Authority & Mining.com.au
