Rare Earth Elements on the Periodic Table: All 17 Listed

There are 17 rare earth elements on the periodic table: the 15 lanthanoids (atomic numbers 57 to 71) plus scandium (21) and yttrium (39), according to Natural Resources Canada (NRCan, rare earth elements facts). The table below lists all 17 with symbol, atomic number, light or heavy group, abundance in the Earth’s crust, main use and a recent oxide price. Below it you will find the minerals that carry these elements, a price history, the countries that mine them and a calculator for the oxide value of a deposit.

One point first, because it matches a common search. The periodic table lists elements, not minerals. A mineral such as bastnäsite or monazite is a compound that holds several of these elements together, and the table below links each element to the ore minerals later in the page.

Rare earth elements on the periodic table: all 17 listed

Most periodic tables print the lanthanoids as a separate strip under the main grid, from lanthanum (La, 57) to lutetium (Lu, 71). Scandium and yttrium sit higher up in the main grid, but they behave like the lanthanoids and turn up in the same ore bodies. Prices are annual averages for the oxide form of each element in 2025, as estimated by the U.S. Geological Survey, in US dollars per kilogram. Purity grades differ by element, so compare within a row, not down the column.

Sources for the table: crustal abundance and the light and heavy split come from the USGS fact sheet on the rare-earth elements (2014, abundance from the CRC Handbook, 2004). Prices come from the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries for rare earths, heavy rare earths, scandium and yttrium (February 2026). A dash means the source gives no figure for that element. Uses draw on the USGS fact sheet and the USGS end-use report, with the Royal Society of Chemistry element pages for gadolinium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, promethium and scandium.

Which elements count as rare earths, and which do not

The count of 17 is the common definition, but statistics do not always follow it. The USGS data on world mine production cover the lanthanides and yttrium and leave out most scandium, which is reported in its own chapter (USGS, 2026). The USGS fact sheet also explains that promethium is left out of discussions of rare earth deposits because it is rare and unstable in nature. So you will see the group described as 15, 16 or 17 elements depending on the source. When you compare production figures, check which elements are in the total.

Two other groupings matter when you read a resource statement. The first splits the group by atomic weight. The USGS fact sheet defines the light rare earths as lanthanum through gadolinium (57 to 64) and the heavy rare earths as terbium through lutetium (65 to 71), with yttrium counted as heavy because of its chemistry. Some authorities move europium and gadolinium into the heavy group, so ask which convention a company uses. The second grouping is by market role. Neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium are called the magnet rare earths in the IEA’s critical minerals outlook, because they go into permanent magnets.

Not every scarce metal is a rare earth. Lithium, gold, uranium and tungsten are separate elements with their own markets. For a ranking of the scarcest members of the group, see our page on the rarest rare earth metals.

What each rare earth is used for

Magnets are the largest single use. Natural Resources Canada puts permanent magnets at 47.6% of global rare earth demand in 2024, ahead of catalysts (15.7%), polishing powders (10.5%), metallurgy (6.4%) and glass (5.9%). Demand by element is even more concentrated: neodymium accounted for 36% of demand and cerium for 31%, followed by lanthanum at 18% and praseodymium at 7%. Yttrium was 3% and every other element together was 5% (NRCan).

Chart

Share of global rare earth demand by element

Percent of total demand, 2024

That split explains why the elements are traded so differently. Cerium and lanthanum are produced in large volumes and sell cheaply. Neodymium and praseodymium are valued for magnets in electric motors and wind turbines. The USGS notes that the strongest magnets, neodymium-iron-boron, are used where space and weight are limited, and that the rare earth magnets in clean energy technology usually contain praseodymium, neodymium, samarium and dysprosium (USGS fact sheet 2014-3078). Heavy rare earths such as terbium and dysprosium go into the smallest volumes but carry the highest prices.

Other uses are narrower. Yttrium, europium and terbium phosphors supply the red, green and blue light in many lamps and screens, and the USGS notes that lanthanum can make up as much as half of a digital camera lens. Gadolinium compounds serve as contrast agents in MRI scans, and erbium is added to the glass fibre that amplifies broadband signals (Royal Society of Chemistry element pages).

▶ Our video on how mining contributes to the economy. · 5:03

Rare earth minerals: where the elements are found

These elements are almost never found as pure metal. They sit inside minerals, often several at once, because they share a +3 charge and similar ion sizes (USGS). Three minerals matter most. Bastnäsite is a rare earth carbonate-fluoride and the main ore mineral in the world’s largest deposits. Monazite is a rare earth phosphate that also contains thorium and is recovered from some beach sands alongside titanium minerals. Xenotime is a yttrium phosphate that is richer in heavy rare earths and has been recovered from tin placers.

The USGS fact sheet names four geological settings where economic deposits occur: carbonatites, alkaline igneous systems, ion-adsorption clay deposits and monazite-xenotime placers. The grades differ widely, and so does the mix of light and heavy elements.

Even within these settings, minable ground is scarce. The USGS reported that of more than 500 known carbonatites, only 6 were being mined for rare earths (fact sheet, 2014). The Mount Weld mine in Western Australia produced from a weathered zone that sits over a carbonatite (USGS, 2014). In the United States, the 2026 Mineral Commodity Summaries report bastnäsite mined as a primary product at Mountain Pass, California, and monazite produced from heavy-mineral-sand concentrates in the southeastern states. For a map of deposits by country, see our page on the rare earth elements map.

Mining is only the first step. Because the elements occur as a group of near-identical siblings, a producer must concentrate the ore and then separate the individual elements, usually as oxides, which is the hard and costly part (USGS). Monazite also carries thorium, so processing needs radioactive waste handling.

▶ Explains the seven main environmental impacts of mining in plain words, as a clay animation. · 2:31

Why rare earths are not rare, and why prices still differ

The name is historical. The USGS says the elements were named when they were identified as “earths” in the 18th and 19th centuries and were rare compared with other earths such as lime. Cerium, at 66.5 parts per million in the crust, is more common than copper (60 ppm) or lead (14 ppm), and every rare earth except promethium is more abundant on average than silver, gold or platinum. The problem is concentration, not total quantity: minable deposits are unusual.

Chart

Abundance in the crust against oxide price

Eight elements; price is the USGS 2025 estimate for the oxide, US$ per kg

The scatter chart above plots abundance against price for eight of the elements. If price followed abundance, the points would fall in a line. They do not. Lanthanum, cerium and yttrium are fairly common and cheap, while terbium and lutetium are both scarce and expensive. Neodymium sits in the middle for abundance but has a high price because magnet makers need it. Price reflects demand, ease of separation and who controls supply, as well as geology.

Rare earth prices by element

Rare earth oxides are not traded on a screen like gold, so reported prices depend on the source, purity and delivery point. The USGS annual averages show the pattern. Neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide averaged US$92 per kilogram in 2021, peaked at US$124 in 2022, fell to US$55 in 2024 and was estimated at US$69 in 2025 (USGS, 2026). Cerium and lanthanum oxides, by contrast, stayed between about US$1 and US$2 per kilogram across the five years.

Chart

Average NdPr oxide price, 2021 to 2025

US dollars per kilogram, neodymium-praseodymium oxide, 99% minimum; 2025 is an estimate

Recent quotes show how far the sources differ. Benchmark Minerals reported NdPr oxide at US$95,000 per tonne (CIF Europe and North America) in the fortnight to 20 August 2026, down 7.3%, and below the US$110 per kilogram price floor set for MP Materials and Lynas in their agreements with the U.S. Department of Defense (Benchmark, 21 August 2026). Trading Economics showed neodymium at 947,500 yuan per tonne on 15 October 2026, 30.69% above a year earlier (Trading Economics, 15 October 2026). These are different grades, currencies and delivery points, so do not compare them directly with the USGS averages.

Heavy rare earths show the widest gaps. The IEA reports that in Europe, dysprosium and terbium prices are around five times higher than Chinese domestic prices (IEA, Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026). The chart in the export controls section below shows how USGS average oxide prices for six heavy elements moved between 2021 and 2025. For a longer list of element prices, see our page on rare earth prices by element.

Who mines rare earths, and where the reserves are

China dominates. The USGS estimates world mine production at 390,000 tonnes of rare earth oxide equivalent in 2025, of which China produced 270,000 tonnes, about 69%. The United States produced 51,000 tonnes, Australia 29,000 tonnes and Burma 22,000 tonnes. Concentrate output is only part of the picture, because separation and refining are even more concentrated: NRCan estimates that China produced 90% of refined supply in 2024.

Chart

Rare earth mine production, selected countries

Tonnes of rare earth oxide equivalent, 2025 estimate

Reserves tell a different story from production. The USGS puts world reserves above 75 million tonnes of oxide equivalent, and China holds 44 million of them. Brazil is second at 11 million tonnes, ahead of Australia, Russia and Vietnam. Reserves are the part of a resource that is economic to mine at the time of estimate, and the USGS revises them each year, so treat them as a snapshot.

Source: USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, rare earths (February 2026). A dash is zero production. The USGS notes that for Australia, reserves that meet the JORC Code or equivalent were 3.3 million tonnes. Canada is not yet a commercial producer but hosts advanced exploration projects, and NRCan puts its reserves and resources at 15.2 million tonnes of rare earth oxide.

Export controls and supply risk

Supply risk is now part of how these elements are priced. The USGS records that in April 2025 China added export controls on samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium, and that in October 2025 it extended them to europium, holmium, erbium, thulium and ytterbium. In November 2025 China suspended the October measures for one year, while the April controls stayed in force (USGS, 2026). The IEA says the expanded measures stay suspended until November 2026 and warns that full implementation could put about US$6.5 trillion a year of downstream production outside China at risk.

Chart

Heavy rare earth oxide prices, 2021 against 2025

USGS average prices, US dollars per kilogram

The IEA also gives a sense of scale for buyers. Rare earths are around 40% of the cost of a permanent magnet but less than 1% of a vehicle’s value, and a tripling of rare earth prices would add only about 0.1% to the cost of a car (IEA, 2026). Refining and magnet making outside China lag behind mining: the IEA estimates that existing and announced refining capacity in geographically diversified regions is equal to about two-thirds of expected mined supply by 2035, while planned magnet production is only about one-third.

The United States still depends on imports. The USGS estimates net import reliance for rare earth compounds and metals at 67% in 2025, up from 53% in 2024, with China the source of 71% of imports in 2021 to 2024. A US Department of War loan of US$150 million in August 2025 backed a heavy rare earth separation facility at Mountain Pass, and the USGS records at least five companies developing commercial heavy rare earth refining capacity, though none had produced sustained commercial volumes in 2025.

How to read a rare earth resource and estimate its value

For a consultant or investor reading a company release, five numbers decide whether a rare earth project is interesting. The first is the grade, usually written as total rare earth oxide (TREO) in percent. The oxide form is used because producers sell oxides, and statistics are usually reported as oxide equivalents. The second is the share of the valuable magnet elements, neodymium and praseodymium, in that total. A deposit that is mostly cerium and lanthanum earns far less per tonne of TREO than one rich in NdPr. The third is the heavy rare earth share, which carries the highest prices. The fourth is recovery through processing, which differs for each deposit type. The fifth is the price assumption, which can swing the answer.

The calculator below turns those five numbers into the contained and recovered oxide, and the gross value of the NdPr portion. It ignores the other elements, so it understates deposits with heavy rare earths, and it ignores mining, processing, refining and separation costs, royalties and tax. The NdPr share is an input, not a benchmark: use the figure from the filing.

When you read a filing, also check three things. Does the resource use a recognised code such as JORC or NI 43-101, and which class is it (inferred, indicated or measured)? What cut-off grade, the lowest grade the company treats as worth mining, was used? And what share of the oxide sits in minerals that the plant can actually process? Satellite and desktop screening sit ahead of all of these steps and cannot replace a resource estimate.

Mapping rare earth ground from space

A satellite cannot see neodymium or dysprosium directly. What it can map is the rock around them: the ring-shaped alkaline and carbonatite bodies that host many deposits, the weathered cover that forms over them (as at Mount Weld), and the clay-rich soils over granite where ion-adsorption deposits form. The hero image at the top of this page is a Sentinel-2 summer view of the Mountain Pass district in California, where the USGS describes the ore body as a carbonatite intrusion.

At Farmonaut we list rare earth elements among the materials our satellite mineral detection covers. Results are exploration targets that sit ahead of any resource estimate, and they do not replace sampling or drilling. A licence holder can send a boundary as a KML, KMZ or polygon and receive a report in 5 to 20 business days.

▶ Our video asking whether AI actually finds mines in mineral exploration. · 4:37

Frequently asked questions

How many rare earth elements are on the periodic table?

There are 17: the 15 lanthanoids from lanthanum (57) to lutetium (71), plus scandium (21) and yttrium (39) (NRCan). NRCan describes scandium and yttrium as transition metals that behave like the lanthanides and occur in the same ore deposits. Some statistics, including the USGS production tables, count the lanthanides and yttrium and leave out most scandium.

Which rare earth elements are light and which are heavy?

The USGS defines the light group as lanthanum through gadolinium and the heavy group as terbium through lutetium, with yttrium counted as heavy. Some authorities place europium and gadolinium in the heavy group.

Are rare earth metals actually rare?

Not in total quantity. Cerium is more common in the crust than copper, and all but promethium are more abundant than gold or silver. What is rare is a concentrated, minable deposit (USGS).

Which rare earth is the most valuable?

Among the oxides in the USGS tables, terbium oxide had the highest 2025 average price at US$1,010 per kilogram, ahead of lutetium at US$888 and scandium oxide at US$640. Cerium and lanthanum oxides were below US$2 per kilogram.

Which rare earth is the most common?

Cerium, at 66.5 parts per million in the crust, followed by neodymium at 41.5, lanthanum at 39 and yttrium at 33 (USGS fact sheet). Cerium and lanthanum together are about 49% of demand by element, according to NRCan.

What are the main rare earth minerals?

Bastnäsite, monazite and xenotime. Bastnäsite is the main ore of the largest deposits, monazite is a rare earth and thorium phosphate recovered from some beach sands, and xenotime is a yttrium phosphate. Ion-adsorption clays are an ore type, not a single mineral.

What are rare earths used for the most?

Permanent magnets, at 47.6% of global demand in 2024, followed by catalysts at 15.7% and polishing powders at 10.5% (NRCan).

Which country produces the most rare earths?

China, with about 270,000 tonnes of oxide equivalent of the 390,000 tonnes mined worldwide in 2025, according to USGS estimates.

Is promethium a rare earth?

It is one of the 15 lanthanoids, so it sits in the group. The USGS leaves it out of discussions of rare earth deposits because it is rare and unstable in nature. Its few uses include small atomic batteries.

What does TREO mean in a resource statement?

Total rare earth oxide: the combined weight of all rare earth oxides in a sample, as a percentage of the rock. It says nothing about the mix, so also look for the NdPr and heavy rare earth shares.

Can satellites find rare earth deposits?

They map the geology that hosts them, such as alkaline and carbonatite bodies, weathering cover and clay terrain, and so help rank areas for sampling. A satellite result is a target, not a resource estimate, and drilling is needed to confirm grade.