Dysprosium

Overview

Dysprosium is a bright, silvery heavy rare-earth metal, element 66. Its name comes from the Greek for "hard to get", a reference to how difficult it was to separate from the other rare earths; pure samples became available only around 1950, after ion-exchange separation was developed.¹

Its main use is in alloys for neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets, where it makes the magnet resist demagnetization at elevated temperatures. This matters for motors and generators in electric vehicles and wind turbines.¹ The US Department of Energy (DOE) rated dysprosium as critical for clean energy in both the short and the medium term, and expected magnets for electric vehicles and wind turbines to account for about 83% of dysprosium demand in 2025.²

Dysprosium is on the US 2025 List of Critical Minerals. The EU lists heavy rare earths as critical raw materials and classes rare-earth elements for permanent magnets, including dysprosium, as strategic.³⁴

Where it comes from

Dysprosium is not mined on its own. It occurs with other rare earths in monazite and bastnaesite and, in smaller amounts, in xenotime and fergusonite, and is separated by ion exchange and solvent extraction.¹ The US government records it as a potential by-product of other rare earths, iron ore and heavy mineral sands.³

Ore type makes a large difference. At Bayan Obo in China, the world's best-known light-rare-earth deposit, dysprosium is about 0.1% of the contained rare-earth oxide (REO). In the Longnan ion-adsorption clay deposit in Jiangxi province it is about 7.5%.⁵ The USGS describes the ion-adsorption clays of South China as supplying virtually all of the heavy rare earths reaching world markets; they can be mined and processed more cheaply than other deposit types.⁶ DOE notes that few heavy-rare-earth deposits elsewhere can compete with China's ionic clays, and that dysprosium is the largest source of revenue for such deposits.²

Myanmar is the main other source. Shallow ionic clays in Kachin State are mined by in-situ leaching, a low-cost method that causes significant environmental damage, and Myanmar has accounted for over 60% of China's heavy rare-earth imports by value in recent years.⁷ For 2016–2020 the European Commission put China's share of dysprosium extraction at 84.4% and Myanmar's at 9.3%, and China's share of processing at 100%.⁸ Supply from Myanmar can be disrupted: conflict there cut China's rare-earth imports in March 2025 by 42% year on year.⁹

The USGS does not publish dysprosium production by country. For all rare earths combined, world mine output was an estimated 390,000 t REO in 2025, of which China produced about 270,000 t; Burma's output, estimated from Chinese import data, fell to 22,000 t from 27,000 t in 2024.¹⁰ The chart covers all rare earths, not dysprosium alone.

• China270,000 t · 69%
• United States51,000 t · 13%
• Australia29,000 t · 7%
• Burma22,000 t · 6%
• Thailand4,800 t · 1%
• India2,900 t · <1%
• Madagascar2,700 t · <1%
• Russia2,600 t · <1%
• Other countries4,310 t · 1%

Covers all rare earths combined, in rare-earth-oxide terms; USGS does not publish dysprosium output by country. World total is the USGS rounded figure; country figures sum to 389,310 t. USGS estimated Burma, Thailand and Madagascar from Chinese import data. Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare Earths

Outside China, heavy-rare-earth separation is at an early stage. In 2025 several companies in the United States produced small quantities of heavy-rare-earth compounds and metals, but none at sustained commercial scale. A mine in Brazil produced mixed concentrates from ionic clays with elevated terbium and dysprosium, and an Australian producer announced plans to separate heavy rare earths, including dysprosium, in Malaysia.¹¹

What it is used for

• Permanent magnets. NdFeB magnets are based on neodymium, iron and boron. Dysprosium, terbium and gallium can be added to raise coercivity so that the magnet works at higher temperatures, which is key for vehicle motors; dysprosium is the most frequently used.² These magnets are also used in consumer electronics, industrial motors and non-drivetrain vehicle motors.²
• Lighting. Dysprosium iodide is used in halide discharge lamps that give an intense white light.¹
• Nuclear. A dysprosium oxide-nickel cermet is used in reactor control rods because it absorbs neutrons without swelling or contracting under long bombardment.¹
• Other uses include laser crystals doped with dysprosium and other heavy rare earths, and magnetostrictive alloys such as Terfenol-D.⁵²

Grades and forms

Dysprosium is traded mainly as oxide, with metal, master alloys and magnets further down the chain. The forms below follow the product groups covered by China's export licensing.¹²

Trade and policy

The United States relies on imports for all of its heavy-rare-earth compounds and metals. In the EU, the European Commission found China to be the source of 100% of the EU's dysprosium supply.¹¹⁸

As of December 2025 the April 2025 licensing requirement remained in effect, although China had begun issuing general licenses to selected exporters.¹¹ In 2025 the US Department of War lent a Mountain Pass, California, producer funds to build a heavy-rare-earth separation facility.¹¹

The EU Critical Raw Materials Act sets 2030 benchmarks for strategic raw materials such as dysprosium: 10% of EU consumption from EU extraction, 40% from EU processing and 25% from recycling, and no more than 65% from any single third country.⁴

This section is factual background, not legal or trade-compliance advice.

Recycling and substitution

Only small quantities of heavy rare earths are recovered from used permanent magnets. In 2025 the US Department of War supported two recyclers to recover rare earths, including terbium and dysprosium.¹¹

Dysprosium use in magnets can be reduced or eliminated through techniques such as grain boundary diffusion, and by re-engineering magnets and motors so that they operate at lower temperatures. DOE's low-demand scenarios assume that grain boundary diffusion cuts the dysprosium needed in vehicle magnets by 70% and in wind-turbine magnets by up to 100%.² Terbium serves the same function in magnets and is already used as a partial substitute.² Motors without NdFeB magnets, such as induction motors, are an alternative in vehicles, at some cost in efficiency.²

Sources

1. Dysprosium: element information, properties and uses. Royal Society of Chemistry, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Critical Materials Assessment. U.S. Department of Energy, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

3. Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals. Federal Register, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

4. Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 (Critical Raw Materials Act). EUR-Lex, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

5. 2020 Minerals Yearbook: Rare Earths. U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

6. Rare Earth Element Accumulation Processes Resulting in High-Value Metal Enrichments in Regolith. U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

7. Myanmar: the soft underbelly of China's rare earth dominance. Asialink, University of Melbourne, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

8. Study on the Critical Raw Materials for the EU 2023: Final Report. European Commission, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

9. China March rare earth exports jump as Myanmar supply disruption keeps buyers nervous. Reuters via MarketScreener, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

10. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare Earths. U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

11. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare Earths (Heavy). U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

12. Announcement No. 18 of 2025 on implementing export control on some medium and heavy rare earth related items. Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

13. Announcement No. 70 of 2025 suspending Announcements No. 55–58, 61 and 62 of 2025 (in Chinese). Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

14. China issues first batch of streamlined rare earth export licences, source says. Reuters via Yahoo Finance, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

15. China Imposes Escalated Export Controls on Dual-Use Items to Japan. Greenberg Traurig, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩