Renewed geopolitical tensions and the global race for critical minerals are bringing rare earth stocks back into focus. In a recent conversation with Dylan Jovine of Behind the Markets, attention turned to how the United States and its allies are attempting to rebuild domestic supply chains for materials that power everything from AI infrastructure to advanced weapons systems.
Jovine argues the rare earth story is far bigger than most investors realize. These materials are critical to national security, energy independence and the global technology race. As governments look to reduce reliance on China for key minerals and processing capacity, companies positioned across the rare earth supply chain could see renewed investor interest.
Three companies stood out in the discussion, each targeting a different part of the rare earth ecosystem: processing, mining and emerging resource extraction.
The Geopolitics Behind the Rare Earth Boom
Asked about the broader drivers behind renewed interest in the sector, Jovine pointed to an increasingly complex global power struggle between the United States and China.
“There are two chess boards that are at play here,” Jovine said. “There’s the Middle East chessboard, but there’s also a bigger global chessboard where the two players are the United States and China.”
Rare earth minerals have become a central piece of that global contest. While the materials themselves are relatively abundant, processing them into usable components remains heavily concentrated in China.
That imbalance has forced Western governments to rethink supply chains. Jovine emphasized that the issue extends well beyond electric vehicles or consumer electronics.
“A lot of folks don’t know that every F-35 fighter jet carries about 920 pounds of rare earths in it,” Jovine explained. “This is about national security, AI development and a whole bunch of industries we depend on.”
As a result, policymakers are increasingly focused on reshoring both mining and processing capabilities.
A Rare Earth Processing Opportunity
One company that caught Jovine’s attention is Solvay (OTC: SLVYY), a European chemical firm with growing importance in rare earth processing.
Processing is often the overlooked piece of the supply chain. Mining may receive most of the attention, but turning raw materials into usable components requires specialized chemical expertise.
Solvay has quietly built a position in this niche. The company processes key rare earth elements used in magnets and defense technologies, including neodymium and praseodymium. These materials are essential for advanced manufacturing, military systems and electric motors.
Despite its strategic importance, Jovine noted the stock trades at a relatively modest valuation.
“It’s selling for roughly eight to ten times normalized cash flow,” he said. “And the company generates a lot of free cash flow that it pays out to shareholders.”
With a dividend yield near 9% and a market capitalization around $3 billion, the stock represents what Jovine described as a rare value opportunity within the sector.
As Western governments push to rebuild processing capacity outside China, companies like Solvay could see growing demand for their capabilities.
A Gold Miner With a Critical Minerals Twist
The second company discussed was Perpetua Resources (NASDAQ: PPTA), which is developing the Stibnite Gold Project in Idaho.
At first glance, Perpetua appears to be a conventional gold mining company. But Jovine highlighted a unique factor that makes the story more compelling.
The project also produces antimony, a critical mineral used in military applications, batteries and advanced materials.
Because the antimony is extracted alongside gold, it dramatically improves the project’s economics.
The company’s all-in sustaining cost (AISC) for gold production is estimated at roughly $435 per ounce, placing it among the lowest-cost producers globally. “That makes it one of the most efficient miners in the world,” Jovine said.
The ability to produce both gold and antimony creates a powerful combination. As governments search for secure sources of critical minerals, Perpetua’s dual-resource project could attract strategic interest.
Mining Critical Metals From the Ocean Floor
The final company highlighted in the conversation was The Metals Company (NASDAQ: TMC), which is developing technology to harvest polymetallic nodules from the ocean floor.
These potato-shaped rocks contain high concentrations of nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese—all metals essential for batteries, energy infrastructure and defense technologies.
The company has spent years developing systems capable of retrieving these nodules from deep-sea environments.
“They’ve actually proven they can mine this kind of material under the ocean,” Jovine noted.
The real catalyst for investors could come from the regulatory side. Mining projects depend heavily on permits and government approvals, and recent signals from policymakers have been encouraging.
“In mining, these stories are really permitting stories,” Jovine said.
If approvals move forward, the company could gain access to vast undersea deposits that remain largely untapped.
A Supply Chain Story Investors Should Watch
Taken together, the three companies illustrate how broad the rare earth opportunity has become.
Some firms are focused on mining new sources of critical materials. Others specialize in processing and refining them into usable components. Still others are exploring entirely new resource frontiers.
What unites them is a growing geopolitical push to rebuild secure supply chains.
As Jovine put it, the shift is inevitable.
“This is just a massive wave as rare earth production gets reshored,” he said.
For investors, the challenge may not be identifying the trend—but finding companies positioned early enough to benefit from it.
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The article "3 Rare Earth Stocks Quietly Building the Next Supply Chain" first appeared on MarketBeat.
