Gina Rinehart just bought Lynas a second rare-earths mountain, in Brazil

Lynas is paying A$968 million in stock for Meteoric Resources, handing Meteoric shareholders 0.0207 new Lynas shares each, a 68% premium to the last close, according to the companies' joint announcement. The prize is Caldeira in Minas Gerais, described as the largest known ionic-clay deposit carrying both light and heavy rare earths, which lifts Lynas's measured and indicated resources by roughly 79%. Lynas is already the biggest rare-earths producer outside China, running Mt Weld in Australia and processing in Malaysia; this adds a third country and a resource type its existing plants were never built to handle. Development capital alone is expected to top US$500 million, on top of the acquisition price, and Lynas hasn't settled on a processing route yet. Rinehart's backing turns this into Australia's clearest bet yet on controlling rare-earth supply outside Beijing's orbit.