The context
This section covers a wider precious-and-strategic-materials watchlist than rare-earth elements alone. Scandium belongs to the rare-earth family; germanium and tellurium are metalloids. Some markets have exchange contracts, while others rely on negotiated physical assessments or supplier offers. The watchlist order is retained for navigation, not presented as a global value or scarcity ranking.
Comparison requires an unchanged series definition. A China domestic assessment including VAT differs from an export assessment or a USD display that removes tax. Quote date, retrieval date and publication calendar are separate. A holiday pause or a carried-forward price creates no fresh observation and cannot establish a zero weekly return.
What we track
Definitions and interpretation below describe our coverage. They are not live readings or mechanical buy/sell instructions.
Comparable physical quotation
Price with provider, purity, product form, location, currency, unit, bid/ask or offer status and tax basis.
How to read it: A Johnson Matthey PGM base offer is a supplier quotation, not an exchange settlement. Industrial users must also consider fabrication, freight, quantity and delivery terms before inferring a procurement cost.
Source & methodology ↗Matched-period price change
Latest comparable observation divided by a positive prior observation, minus one, with both dates shown.
How to read it: Keep changes unavailable when either endpoint is missing or the product changes. Nominal dollars per ounce and dollars per kilogram cannot be ranked as comparable investment opportunities.
Source & methodology ↗Production and processing concentration
Country shares of a specified year’s mine output, refining or separation, calculated separately for each processing stage.
How to read it: A diversified mining map can coexist with concentrated separation or magnet production. Co-produced elements do not have independent supply responses; capacity announcements require commissioning and qualification evidence.
Source & methodology ↗Import reliance and usable reserves
Domestic supply dependence and resource/reserve estimates under the source’s definitions and reporting year.
How to read it: Geological reserves are not immediately available inventory. Import reliance can reflect competitive specialization as well as vulnerability; alternative suppliers must meet the buyer’s exact chemical and performance requirements.
Source & methodology ↗Deliverable inventories and substitution
Verified warehouse stocks, customer-qualified substitutes, recycling flows and delivery lead times where disclosed.
How to read it: Exchange stocks cover a limited network. A technically possible substitute may require redesign, certification or additional material, so a lower quoted price does not demonstrate a near-term replacement.
Source & methodology ↗Policy and access restrictions
Official measure, controlled item, destination, end user, license scope, effective date and subsequent amendments.
How to read it: An export-control announcement differs from a universal ban. Follow the applicable text and actual shipment evidence; this monitor cannot determine the legality of a particular transaction.
Source & methodology ↗How we cover it
The full 25-material scope is rhodium, iridium, gold, platinum, palladium, ruthenium, osmium, silver, rhenium, scandium, indium, gallium, tantalum, beryllium, germanium, tellurium, terbium, dysprosium, neodymium, praseodymium, cobalt, lithium, titanium, vanadium and uranium.
Product forms remain explicit: lithium carbonate is not lithium metal; uranium oxide U3O8 is not elemental uranium; titanium sponge differs from finished titanium; vanadium pentoxide differs from vanadium metal. Representative companies are linked to their role in mining, refining, fabrication or recycling.
What the numbers can miss
Retail crystalline osmium prices cannot substitute for an unverified industrial osmium series. Small by-product markets can have sparse trades and wide differences between indicative and executable quotations.
Subscription assessments and detailed commercial stockpiles may be unavailable. Provider coverage and legal redistribution rights must not be inferred from a public source-directory link.
Sources & editorial context
Reference guide derived from the recovered 25-material scope. No live feed or fresh quote is implied. The source tracker explicitly lacked a comparable industrial osmium quote; unsupported observations remain unavailable.
- Johnson Matthey — PGM prices and trading
- London Metal Exchange — Metals
- USGS — Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026
- IEA — Critical Minerals Data Explorer
- U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security
Coverage framework informed by the publisher’s Rare Earth Metals reference discussion. Discussions guide the reporting agenda; factual claims and metrics are checked against the identified source institutions.