Jefferies starts coverage of rare minerals

Jefferies on September 2 initiated coverage on a group of critical-mineral companies with Buy ratings, including Almonty Industries, Materion, USA Rare Earth and Neo Performance Materials, according to market reporting and company materials. The call centered on materials tied to non-China supply chains: tungsten through Almonty, beryllium through Materion, and rare-earth processing and magnet exposure through USA Rare Earth and Neo. (hyperdash.com) The two price targets that circulated most widely were $26.25 for Almonty and $21 for USA Rare Earth. (hyperdash.com) Jefferies’ framing, as reflected in the market reports, was that investors are looking for listed ways to gain exposure to strategic materials used in defense, electronics, aerospace and magnet supply chains outside China. (almonty.com) ### Why did Jefferies group these names together? Almonty, Materion, USA Rare Earth and Neo sit at different points in the same industrial chain. Almonty is a tungsten miner and processor; Materion supplies beryllium products and other advanced materials into aerospace and defense; USA Rare Earth is building a domestic sintered NdFeB magnet platform in Oklahoma; and Neo already sells rare-earth magnetic materials, chemicals and rare metals across North America, Europe and Asia. (hyperdash.com) China’s role is the common thread. USA Rare Earth says China currently manufactures about 92% of the world’s sintered NdFeB permanent magnets, while Almonty has pitched Sangdong as a major source of tungsten supply outside China. (hyperdash.com) Those facts help explain why brokers and investors have been screening for non-China alternatives rather than treating “critical minerals” as a single trade. ### Why is Almonty getting so much attention? Almonty’s Sangdong mine in South Korea is the most concrete near-term production story in the group. The company said in March that Phase 1 had been completed and commissioned, with the plant designed to process about 640,000 tonnes of ore annually and produce roughly 2,300 tonnes of tungsten concentrate per year. (almonty.com) At full capacity, Almonty said, Sangdong is expected to supply about 40% of global tungsten demand outside China. The company has also said a Phase 2 expansion targeted for 2027 would raise processing capacity to about 1.2 million tonnes of ore annually and double tungsten output to roughly 4,600 tonnes per year. (usare.com) ### Where do Materion, USA Rare Earth and Neo fit? Materion gives investors listed exposure to beryllium and other specialized materials used in aerospace, defense and space systems. The company says its portfolio includes beryllium-based metals for structural components and other high-performance applications, and it has previously disclosed U.S. Air Force-backed work on additive manufacturing for beryllium and aluminum-beryllium alloys. (almonty.com) USA Rare Earth is pitching a domestic magnet-manufacturing buildout rather than a pure mining story. The company says it operates a 310,000-square-foot sintered NdFeB permanent magnet facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where its innovation lab began producing prototype magnets in January 2025 and where first-phase production is being commissioned. (almonty.com) Neo Performance Materials is the more established operating company in the basket. Neo says it manufactures rare earth, magnetic powders, magnets and rare metal-based materials, and public market data show analysts already rate the stock a Buy on average. ### What are investors actually buying with this call? Jefferies’ initiation points investors toward processing and downstream manufacturing as much as mining. (materion.com) Tungsten concentrate, beryllium products and NdFeB magnets all tie into defense, semiconductors, industrial equipment and electrification supply chains, but the listed vehicles are not interchangeable. (usare.com) The timing also matters. Neo reported record second-quarter 2026 results in August, Almonty commissioned Sangdong in March, and USA Rare Earth says its Stillwater facility is in commissioning. Those milestones give investors specific operating dates to watch rather than a purely thematic trade. (stockanalysis.com) ### What comes next for these companies? Almonty’s next visible milestone is its planned 2027 Phase 2 expansion at Sangdong, which the company says would double tungsten output. USA Rare Earth’s next milestone is first-phase production at Stillwater, while Neo’s next scheduled corporate date is a dividend payable on September 28, 2026, according to market data. (almonty.com) (stockanalysis.com) (press.almonty.com)