Every company reviewed and excluded from the inaugural index is documented here with the specific reason. Companies whose absence might reasonably prompt a question are the priority. Forty-five names are covered. To challenge any exclusion, use the contact page and reference the company name and the reason cited.
Screens are those of methodology v2.0 as applied at the April 30, 2026 calculation date; market-cap and liquidity figures are trailing-window values locked to that date (constituent note §3.1), and the universe is re-screened at each semiannual reconstitution (methodology §8.2). The same companies, with the constituents, are listed by status on the rare earth stocks page.
October 10, 2026. Two rows added: Brazilian Rare Earths and St George Mining, both excluded at inception and documented in the constituent note (sections 5.3 and 5.5) but absent from this table as first published. The table now carries forty-five names, the count the note states. No other row was changed.
Excluded constituents
| Company | Ticker | Exclusion reason |
|---|---|---|
| Iluka Resources | ILU.AX | Activity fail — REE refinery under construction; commissioning revised to 2027. Revenue dominated by mineral sands as of April 30, 2026. Per §10.1: eligible at future commissioning date, not today. |
| Energy Fuels | UUUU | Activity fail — uranium primary business (FY25: $48.2M U revenue vs REE pilot in non-commercial volumes). Pending ASM acquisition may change classification post-close. Also: NYSE American not explicitly named in §4.3 (v2.1 flag). |
| NioCorp Developments | NB | Activity fail — Elk Creek is niobium-scandium-titanium; REE is minor co-product. Niobium dominates EV. |
| Vulcan Energy Resources | VUL.AX | Activity fail — geothermal lithium primary business. No REE activity. |
| Solvay SA | SOLB.BR | Activity fail — REE separation at La Rochelle is one product line within Special Chem. FY24 revenue €4.7B dominated by other chemicals. REE is minority of EV. |
| Syensqo SA/NV | SYENS.BR | Activity fail — specialty chemicals spinoff from Solvay. REE separation retained by Solvay. No material REE activity. |
| TMC the metals company | TMC | Activity fail — deep-sea polymetallic nodule mining (Ni, Cu, Co, Mn). Not a REE company. |
| Perpetua Resources | PPTA | Activity fail — gold-antimony developer (Stibnite Gold Project, Idaho). Not a REE company. |
| Avalon Advanced Materials | AVL.TO | Activity fail (lithium primary at Separation Rapids) and market cap floor fail (USD 41M < USD 50M floor). |
| China Rare Earth Holdings | 0769.HK | Exclusion screen — trading suspended since June 18, 2024 (>10 consecutive trading days). |
| Daido Steel | 5471.T | Exchange not on eligible list — Tokyo Stock Exchange. Activity would likely fail in any case. |
| TDK Corporation | 6762.T | Exchange not on eligible list — Tokyo Stock Exchange. Activity would fail (electronic components conglomerate). |
| Shin-Etsu Chemical | 4063.T | Exchange not on eligible list — Tokyo Stock Exchange. Activity would fail (semiconductors/silicones primary). |
| Sumitomo Metal Mining | 5713.T | Exchange not on eligible list — Tokyo Stock Exchange. Activity would fail (diversified metals). |
| Proterial Ltd | 5486.T (delisted) | Not publicly listed — taken private by Bain Capital consortium, October 2022. Renamed from Hitachi Metals January 2023. |
| China Northern Rare Earth | 600111.SH | Exchange not on eligible list — Shanghai Stock Exchange (A-share only). |
| Shenghe Resources | 600392.SH | Exchange not on eligible list — Shanghai Stock Exchange (A-share only). |
| Ningbo Yunsheng | 600366.SH | Exchange not on eligible list — Shanghai A-share only. NdFeB magnet manufacturer. |
| Innuovo Magnetics | 688199.SH | Exchange not on eligible list — STAR Market (Shanghai). Bonded NdFeB manufacturer. |
| Sungeel HiTech | 235980.KQ | Exchange not on eligible list — KOSDAQ (Korea). REE recycler. |
| Rare Element Resources | REEMF | Exchange not on eligible list — OTC Markets (US). Also fails liquidity floor (ADTV ~USD 281K). |
| Peak Rare Earths | PEK.AX (delisted) | Delisted October 2025 following acquisition by Ganzhou Chenguang (Shenghe subsidiary). Ngualla project (Tanzania) no longer publicly accessible. |
| 80 Mile Plc (formerly Bluejay Mining) | 80M.L | Activity fail — pivoted to industrial gas and hydrocarbons following July 2024 rebrand. REE no longer material. |
| Commerce Resources | CCE.V | Market cap floor fail — 30-day average ~USD 25M vs USD 50M floor. Activity passes (Ashram REE/fluorspar, Quebec). |
| Rare Earths Norway | (private) | Not publicly listed. Developing Fen Complex (Norway’s largest known REE deposit). No IPO announced. |
| Hastings Technology Metals | HAS.AX | Liquidity floor fail — 90-day ADTV ~USD 120K vs USD 500K floor. Market cap passes (~USD 73M). Activity passes (Yangibana NdPr). |
| Northern Minerals | NTU.AX | Liquidity floor fail — 90-day ADTV ~USD 408K vs USD 500K floor (18% below; outside 10% adjudication zone). Market cap passes (~USD 141M). |
| Ionic Rare Earths | IXR.AX | Market cap floor fail — 30-day average ~USD 47M vs USD 50M floor (within 6% — §10.3 zone noted). Activity passes (Makuutu ionic-clay + UK recycling JV). |
| VHM Limited | VHM.AX | Liquidity floor fail — 90-day ADTV ~USD 101K vs USD 500K floor. Market cap passes (~USD 55M). |
| American Rare Earths | ARR.AX | Liquidity floor fail — 90-day ADTV ~USD 239K vs USD 500K floor. Market cap passes (~USD 136M). Activity passes (La Paz, Arizona). |
| Dreadnought Resources | DRE.AX | Liquidity floor fail — 90-day ADTV ~USD 80K vs USD 500K floor. Activity borderline (multi-commodity). |
| Defense Metals | DEFN.V | TSXV liquidity floor fail — 90-day ADTV ~USD 74K vs USD 1M TSXV floor. Market cap passes (~USD 61M). Activity passes (Wicheeda, BC). |
| Mkango Resources (TSXV line) | MKA.V | TSXV liquidity floor fail — 90-day ADTV ~USD 53K vs USD 1M TSXV floor. Eligible via AIM listing (MKA.L) included in index. |
| Rainbow Rare Earths | RBW.L | Liquidity floor fail — 90-day ADTV ~USD 373K vs USD 500K floor (25% below; outside adjudication zone). Market cap passes (~USD 227M). |
| Leading Edge Materials | LEM.V | TSXV liquidity floor fail — 90-day ADTV ~USD 33K vs USD 1M TSXV floor. Market cap passes (~USD 51M). |
| Search Minerals | SMY.V | Market cap floor fail — 30-day average ~USD 11M vs USD 50M floor. |
| Geomega Resources | GMA.V | Market cap floor fail — 30-day average ~USD 32M vs USD 50M floor. |
| Heavy Rare Earths | HRE.AX | Market cap floor fail — 30-day average ~USD 5M vs USD 50M floor. |
| RareX Limited | REE.AX | Market cap floor fail — 30-day average ~USD 13M vs USD 50M floor. |
| GreenRoc Strategic Materials | GROC.L | Market cap floor fail — 30-day average ~USD 18M vs USD 50M floor. |
| ABx Group | ABX.AX | Activity fail (bauxite primary) and market cap floor fail (~USD 13M). |
| Vital Metals | VML.AX | Market cap fail (~USD 13M, 75% below floor) and liquidity fail (~USD 11K ADTV, 98% below floor). Post-2023 administration recovery in progress. |
| Aclara Resources | ARA.TO | Borderline — included in Tab 1 after adjudication (§5.1 of constituent note). Listed here for completeness; see constituent note for full reasoning. |
| Brazilian Rare Earths | BRE.AX | Anti-greenwashing fail (§9) — strategic intent is REE-focused (drilling in the Rocha da Rocha Province since its 2023 IPO; ten-year offtake and partnership agreement with Carester; planned demerger of the Amargosa bauxite-gallium project), but as of April 30, 2026 no JORC-compliant rare earth resource estimate had been published on any of its REE projects; the only published JORC resource is the non-REE Amargosa asset. Documented exposure is required, not strategic intent. Reconstitution candidate once the maiden REE resource is published. Adjudicated in constituent note §5.3; row added October 10, 2026. |
| St George Mining | (ticker not recorded in the note) | Activity fail (§4.1) — the Araxá project carries a JORC-compliant resource of 70.91 million tonnes at 4.06% TREO and 0.62% Nb₂O₅, but the only published economic study (a 2012 Preliminary Economic Assessment, NPV10 USD 967 million) values a standalone niobium operation, and the active scoping study is niobium-only with rare earths as upside; no published economics establish rare earths as the majority of project enterprise value. Both financial floors clear (30-day average market cap USD 243 million; 90-day ADTV USD 1.84 million). Reassessed when combined niobium-plus-rare-earth economics are published. Adjudicated in constituent note §5.5; row added October 10, 2026. |
Comparison to REMX
The VanEck REMX ETF holds companies that this methodology excludes — including diversified miners and chemical companies where rare earth activity is a minority of enterprise value, and companies listed on exchanges outside the eligible list. REMX was reviewed as a reference universe only; its holdings were verified independently against this methodology rather than accepted on inclusion.
The differences between the two approaches — activity screen, eligible exchanges, single-name cap, free float — are set out on the REMX comparison page.