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(Kitco News) - Rare earths producer Lynas (ASX: LYC) reported yesterday that NdPr production of 1,579 tonnes and total rare earth oxides production of 3,650 tonnes was achieved during June quarter.

The company said that this was lower than in the previous quarter due to ongoing and unpredictable water supply interruptions from the company’s local supplier in Malaysia.

Lynas noted that over the past 5 years, the company has implemented several mitigating strategies to deal with the frequent interruptions to water supply including additional process water storage on site and use of other natural local water sources.

“However, the frequency and severity of the outages this quarter necessitated several partial or complete temporary production halts which affected production volumes,” the company said in a statement.

Lynas also announced that record sales receipts of A$351m were achieved in June quarter, adding that sales revenue of A$294.5m was the second highest quarterly result recorded reflecting slightly lower production primarily due to water shortages in Malaysia.

The company added that in the quarter, demand for rare earths for NdFeB magnets inside China weakened impacted, in particular, by the COVID-19 related lockdowns in several industrial regions in China.

However, despite this weaker demand, rare earth prices were resilient, especially NdPr which remained between 70 and 80% higher than a year ago. In the longer term, global demand for NdFeB magnets is forecast to grow from 130,000 tonnes of NdFeB magnets consumed in 2020 to 265,000 tonnes in 2030, Lynas said.

The demand for Lynas products, mostly sold in outside China markets, remained very strong during the period, the company pointed out.

Lynas Rare Earths is the world’s only significant producer of separated rare earth materials outside of China.

The company's Mt Weld mine in Western Australia is acknowledged as one of the world’s premier rare earths deposits. Lynas also operates the world’s largest single rare earths processing plant in Malaysia where it produces high-quality separated rare earth materials for export to manufacturing markets in Asia, Europe and the United States.

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