April 21 (Reuters) – Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths reported a more than twofold jump in third-quarter revenue on Tuesday, helped by stronger prices, while flagging strong market demand as customers seek to reduce reliance on rare earths from China.
The world’s largest producer of rare earths outside China posted gross sales revenue of A$265 million ($190.19 million) for the quarter ended March 31, compared with A$123 million a year earlier.
The revenue, Lynas’ highest since the final quarter of fiscal 2022, was underpinned by higher prices and a stronger product mix.
The company, the only commercial producer of light and heavy rare earth oxides outside of China, highlighted a “renewed and urgent focus by customers on securing sustainable, outside China supply chains due to ongoing disruptions to previous supply chains.”
Lynas said it had seen no material disruption from the Iran war-fuelled energy shock as its diesel usage had declined after the commissioning of its hybrid renewable power station at Mt Weld.
It, however, said it expected higher material costs and that the scale and duration were hard to predict.
Shares of the company were down 2.5% in early trade, while the broader mining sub-index was marginally lower.
The miner said the average neodymium-praseodymium selling price rose 25% from the prior quarter due to changes in market index pricing and an increasing share of sales at prices independent of the market index.
Lynas reported total rare earth oxide (REO) production of 3,233 metric tons for the quarter, a jump of more than 69% from a year earlier.
Rare earth elements are essential to make batteries, computer chips, defense equipment and other high-tech products.
($1 = 1.3933 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Nichiket Sunil and Aamir Shaik Khalid in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Subhranshu Sahu)
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