Rare Earth Reserves and Resources by Country
Rare earth reserves are largest in China, with about 44 million t of rare earth oxide according to USGS, followed by Brazil, India and Australia. Reserves show where future supply could come from, but they say little about how quickly it can be mined or processed.
| Country | Reserves | Note |
|---|---|---|
| China | 44 million t | |
| Brazil | 11 million t | Revised down from 21 million t in the previous edition |
| India | 6.9 million t | |
| Australia | 6.3 million t | About 3.3 million t are JORC-compliant reserves |
| Russia | 3.8 million t | |
| Vietnam | 3.5 million t |
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Rare Earths. USGS reserve estimates change between editions as countries report new data; Brazil, Vietnam and Russia have all been revised sharply in recent years.
Reserves vs Resources
Rare earth companies report deposits under codes such as JORC (Australia) and NI 43-101 (Canada). The categories matter for valuing a project.
- Inferred resource. Estimated from limited drilling; the least reliable category and not enough to support a mine plan.
- Indicated and measured resources. Supported by more drilling and testing, with measured the most confident.
- Probable and proven reserves. The part of indicated and measured resources shown to be economic to mine in a feasibility study, after mining and processing losses.
A project whose tonnage is mostly inferred carries much more risk than one with proven reserves, even if the headline resource is larger.
Why Large Reserves Do Not Mean Abundant Supply
- Processing is the bottleneck. Ore has to be cracked, separated into individual elements and refined, which takes specialist plants that are slow to build outside China.
- Ore quality varies. A deposit rich in cerium and lanthanum earns far less per tonne than one rich in neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium.
- Heavy rare earths are concentrated. Ionic adsorption clays in southern China and Myanmar supply most dysprosium and terbium, and few such deposits are being developed elsewhere.
- Reserves are not depleting fast. At current mining rates, China's reserves alone equal roughly 163 years of its 2025 production.
Rare Earth Reserves FAQ
Which country has the largest rare earth reserves?
China has the largest rare earth reserves, about 44 million t of rare earth oxide according to USGS, followed by Brazil, India and Australia.
What is the difference between rare earth reserves and resources?
Rare earth reserves are the part of a deposit that can be mined profitably under current prices and costs, backed by feasibility work. Resources are the larger amount known to exist in the ground, including material that may never be economic to mine.
Are rare earths running out?
No, rare earths are not running out. At 2025 production rates, China's reserves alone would last well over a century. The constraint is processing capacity and economics, not geology.