What it is
Heavy rare earths (HREE) — including dysprosium, terbium, and yttrium — are essential additives in high-temperature permanent magnets and defence systems.
Why it matters
China supplies essentially 100% of HREE refined and used in the EU. There is no operating Western HREE separation industry at scale.
Circular challenges
Whether heavy rare earths re-enters the economy at end-of-life is mostly settled at the design stage. These are the recurring blockers.
Magnet recycling at infancy
NdFeB magnets in EV motors and wind turbines are bonded inside assemblies; only a few pilot plants can extract HREE today.
Separation chemistry
Separating heavy rare earths from each other needs hundreds of solvent-extraction stages — capital-intensive and slow to build.
Substitution is hard
Dysprosium gives magnets their high-temperature performance; reducing it lowers motor efficiency or shortens turbine life.