The VanEck Rare Earth and Strategic Metals ETF (REMX) is the product most often reached for as a proxy for rare earth equities. It was used as one reference universe when the RareEarth Index was constructed: its holdings were reviewed and verified independently against this methodology rather than accepted on inclusion (constituent note §3.1, audit trail). This page sets out where the two approaches differ and what the overlap was on a stated date. It is a comparison of rules and composition, not a recommendation of either.
What REMX is
REMX is an exchange-traded fund launched October 27, 2010. VanEck states that it seeks to replicate, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MVIS Global Rare Earth/Strategic Metals Index (MVREMXTR), which is “intended to track the overall performance of companies involved in producing, refining, and recycling” rare earth and strategic metals and minerals. VanEck’s page describes the index as tracking global companies with a “pure-play” focus on miners, refiners and producers. (VanEck fund page and holdings page, read October 10, 2026; holdings as of October 8, 2026.) The RareEarth Index is not a fund: it is an informational benchmark with no product tracking it (methodology §13).
VanEck’s fund page does not state the index’s weighting scheme, cap or eligibility thresholds, and the MVIS index rulebook was not consulted for this page. The comparison below therefore states the RareEarth Index rules and, for REMX, only what its name, its stated description and its published holdings show.
Where the methodologies differ
| Rule | RareEarth Index | REMX, as its description and holdings show |
|---|---|---|
| Activity screen | Rare earth activity must be the majority of enterprise value: extraction, processing and separation, magnet and alloy manufacturing, recycling, or advanced-stage exploration with a defined resource (§4.1). Rare earth exposure that is a by-product of another commodity is excluded (§4.2); companies in transition are excluded until the activity is primary (§10.1). | Scope is “rare earth and strategic metals and minerals”. Of 32 equity holdings on October 8, 2026, two are RareEarth Index constituents; four were reviewed and excluded by this index (below); the other 26 do not appear in the audit trail, and by their names many are lithium, tungsten, molybdenum, titanium or antimony producers. |
| Eligible exchanges | Eleven named venues: NYSE, NASDAQ, TSX, TSXV (with liquidity waiver), ASX, LSE Main Market and AIM, Oslo Børs, Euronext, HKEX, SGX (§4.3). Companies listed only on Shanghai or Shenzhen are excluded (§11). | Holdings include Shanghai-listed companies — China Northern Rare Earth (600111), Shenghe Resources (600392) and five others carrying a Shanghai ticker — and a Taiwan listing (Lianyou Metals, 7610 TT); neither venue is on the eligible list. |
| Single-name cap | 10%, with iterative pro-rata redistribution; five of thirteen constituents are cap-bound (§5.2, constituents). | Largest holding 8.51% (SQM) on October 8, 2026. The index’s cap rule is not stated on the fund page. |
| Free float | Weights use free-float market capitalization: insiders, founders, government and sovereign holdings, cross-shareholdings and any single strategic block above 5% are excluded (§5.2, constituent note §3.3). Aggregate free-float ratio at inception 71.4%. | Not stated on the fund page. |
| Size and liquidity floors | USD 50 million 30-day average market capitalization; USD 500,000 90-day average daily traded value, USD 1,000,000 on TSXV (§4.3). | Not stated on the fund page. |
| Maintenance | Quarterly rebalance, third Friday of March, June, September, December; semiannual reconstitution in June and December; corporate-action deletions between events (§8). | Not stated on the fund page. |
Holdings overlap on October 8, 2026
Read from VanEck’s REMX holdings page on October 10, 2026, stated as of October 8, 2026: 32 equity positions plus cash lines. Compared with the RareEarth Index composition as of the September 18, 2026 rebalance.
| REMX holding | REMX weight | RareEarth Index |
|---|---|---|
| MP Materials (MP) | 6.87% | Constituent, 10.00% (cap-bound) |
| Lynas Rare Earths (LYC.AX) | 5.77% | Constituent, 10.00% (cap-bound) |
| China Northern Rare Earth (600111) | 6.05% | Excluded: Shanghai A-share only (audit trail) |
| Shenghe Resources (600392) | 3.78% | Excluded: Shanghai A-share only (audit trail) |
| Iluka Resources (ILU.AX) | 3.63% | Excluded: activity screen; mineral sands primary, rare earth refinery under construction (audit trail) |
| Vulcan Energy Resources (VUL.AX) | 0.90% | Excluded: activity screen; geothermal lithium (audit trail) |
Two of the thirteen RareEarth Index constituents were REMX holdings on that date. The other eleven — JL Mag Rare-Earth, USA Rare Earth, Neo Performance Materials, Meteoric Resources, Arafura Rare Earths, Lindian Resources, Critical Metals, Aclara Resources, Ucore Rare Metals, Pensana and Mkango Resources — did not appear in REMX’s holdings. The remaining 26 REMX holdings were not screened by this index; its activity screen is limited to rare earth activity, and none of them appears in the audit trail.
REMX’s holdings change; this comparison is dated and is not updated automatically. The audit-trail reasons are those recorded at the April 30, 2026 calculation date.