US rare earth stock cracks top 50 mining companies for the first time

The total stock market valuation of the world’s biggest mining companies remains nearly $250 billion below the all-time high reached three years ago, however. The Top 50 also once again underperformed the broader market despite new multi-year highs and record prices for a number of major metals over the last three months.  

Rare event

Since the inception of the Top 50, China Northern Rare Earth has been the only producer of the 17 elements in the ranking despite the frenzy surrounding the sector as China tightens control and rare earth becomes a geopolitical hot potato. 

At the end of Q1, these pages speculated that there are no obvious REE candidates that could join the Top 50 in short order. It took a groundbreaking deal with the Pentagon to prove investors wrong and reorder an industry that – despite its high profile – has few large caps.    

MP Materials, which operates the Mountain Pass mine in California, is now up three-fold in value year to date, with the Las Vegas-based company debuting at position 40 at an $11 billion valuation. The counter did come close in March 2022, but the whole mining industry was riding high at the time and the ticket for entry meant it fell just outside the ranking. 

While the MP Materials-DoD deal is certainly a game-changer in the US rare earth landscape, how much will filter through to the rest of the industry still suffering from depressed Chinese pricing for the magnet material is debatable.

Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths has come close in the past and is up more than 50% this year for a valuation of $6.1 billion, but given rare earth mining’s relatively small overall size – in the single billions of dollars – MP Materials and China Northern Rare Earth may have the field to themselves for the foreseeable future.

Lithium lift

Lithium’s representation in the ranking is set to increase again after Zangge Mining – controlled by Zijin Mining, which comfortably occupies the no 4 slot – announced the suspension of operations at its lithium mine in China’s west. 

That breathed some life into lithium stocks which have been decimated since peaking in 2022 with six stocks in the ranking. Those days are long gone, but China’s Ganfeng Lithium did manage to squeak back in to join Chile’s SQM. 

Albemarle only just missed the cut and now ranks as the 51st most valuable mining firm at a $9.1 billion valuation, but Australian producers like Minerals Resources and Pilbara Minerals have a long road ahead as does another former constituent, China’s Tianqi. 

Whether other producers follow Zangge’s move, which was at the behest of the local government after all, is yet to be determined but the brutal economics of EV battery lithium means the game of chicken among producers outside China must be entering its final innings.

Despite the recent flicker, the value destruction caused by the slump in lithium prices has been eye-popping. Lithium stocks in the index peaked in the second quarter of 2022 with a combined value of nearly $120 billion – now the two remaining counters barely make it to $20 billion.

More precious 

Unsurprisingly, precious metals counters dominate the best performer list and make up the majority of new entrants. After a long absence, Impala Platinum returns to the ranks at no 50 after jumping 16 places to join the only other PGM representative, Valterra (formerly Anglo Platinum), which itself has gained 9 places so far in 2025. 

Gold, silver and PGM miners, and royalty companies now represent 31% of the value of the Top 50, up from 24% at the start of the year. The strength in precious metals has also seen Canada overtake Australia for the first time in terms of the value of miners headquartered there. 

At 22% of the index, the 13 Canadian companies collectively are worth $320 billion compared to $293 billion for the now five Australian firms with the inclusion this year for the first time of Sydney-based gold stock Evolution Mining. 

In their current form, Melbourne-based BHP and Rio Tinto have been the top two global mining stocks since the turn of the century, together worth $234 billion today.

Old guard 

For the Q2 snapshot the lowest ranked entry must now be worth $9 billion from less than $7 billion at the end of last year, providing some support for the index as the old guard continues to underperform.  

Mining’s traditional big 5 – BHP, Rio Tinto, Glencore, Vale and Anglo American – that trace their roots back many decades if not more than a century, were pounded down in 2024 losing a collective $120 billion over the course of the year.  So far this year investors in the group have seen these counters recoup only 1% of those losses. 

In the past these companies would, apart from wobbles as the Chinese supercycle became just a cycle, consistently occupied the top five slots in the ranking, supported by vast asset portfolios covering a range of commodities across many regions. 

Now the big diversified stocks – the mining industry’s now erstwhile version of the Mag 7 – make up less than 24% of the total index, down from a height of 38% at the end of 2022. 

Diversification and an extensive metal portfolio is not the ticket it used to be and for the second quarter another longtime occupant drops out for the first time. 

Sweden’s Boliden, which operates Europe’s largest copper mine and can make the most of PGM credits at its other base metal operations, follows another European stalwart – Polish copper producer KGHM – out the door proving that despite the bellwether metal’s bright prospects, investors have become very picky. 

KGHM dropped out at the end of 2024 and now languishes in the mid-60s after a lacklustre year not far behind South32, a base and minor metal specialist, which exited at the end of the Q1 after an unbroken entry since being spun out of BHP a decade ago.