US agency slashes estimate of Vietnam’s rare earth reserves in major revision
The US Geological Survey has significantly revised down its estimate of Vietnam’s rare earth reserves to 3.5 million metric tons from 22 million tons, a change that if verified could affect the country’s ambitions to be a rare earths powerhouse.
Rare earths are used in multiple industries, including electric vehicles, auto batteries and renewables, and have applications in electronic and military products.
The revision, published in a January report, has moved Vietnam from second position on the USGS’s list of countries with the largest reserves down to 6th, after China, Brazil, India, Australia and Russia.
“The rare earth reserve updates in the 2025 Mineral Commodity Summaries for Vietnam were based on new information and revised data and information from government reports and sources,” USGS told Reuters in an emailed statement.
The government has in recent years often cited its reserves of rare earths as one of the advantages for its future technology development, but mass production is yet to begin.
Vietnam extracted only 300 tons of rare earths oxide equivalent last year, flat from a year earlier, according to the USGS report.
In 2023, the US secured deals with Vietnam on semiconductors and critical minerals as Hanoi boosted relations with Washington to its highest diplomatic status.
This week, Vietnam expects to sign pacts with the US when trade minister Nguyen Hong Dien meets trade and energy officials during his visit to the US.
(By Khanh Vu and Francesco Guarascio; Editing by John Mair)
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Comments
Paul Stephen Rainbow
I can almost sympathise with Donald when he is clearly not receiving accurate intelligence on which to base his policies! What is the problem at USGS ? They appear to be a total failure at researching Rare Earth resources; NB I said Resources and not Reserves which the USGS does not seem to understand the difference between. Resources are not Reserves ~ Hardly any of the countries mentioned actually have Reserves anywhere near the amounts stated. Russia has TomTor, Yes it is big but has hardly been drilled, it is a Resource. Similarly, Brazil has massive Ionic Clay deposits but again hardly drilled. Outside of China only Australia has significant “Ore Reserves” :- Lynas, Arafura and Northern Mining. In the USA there is Mountain Pass however that mine is rapidly approaching its economic pit limits, so reclassification of Resources into Reserves may not be as large as USGS expects. What is glaringly absent from that USGS list and which raises a significant question as to their competency is the omission of Angola! One company alone has drilled out JORC Complient Resource of over 228 Million tonnes containing with a contained NdPr estimate of almost 1 million tons; several other deposits in its vicinity promise to be even larger !!!