(ECNS) -- French rare earth specialist Carester has secured a 10-year strategic cooperation deal with Malaysia's Malaco Mining, marking the first large-scale investment by a European rare earth enterprise in the Southeast Asian nation, Reuters reported.
Frédéric Carencotte, CEO of Carester, announced the partnership at a press conference held at the French Embassy in Malaysia, alongside French Ambassador Marc Abensour. Under the agreement, the two companies will jointly build a rare earth separation plant in Perak with an annual processing capacity of 13,000 metric tons.
Having completed preliminary trials of rare earth separation technologies in Kelantan and Perak, the partners will co-develop advanced in-situ leaching mining technology. They are currently seeking official approval to exploit rare earth deposits on plantations across multiple Malaysian states.
The joint venture aims to produce neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium oxides—critical raw materials for high-performance magnets used in electric vehicles (EVs), wind turbines, robotics, and premium electronics.
Carester will purchase a portion of the refined products to feed its recycling and heavy rare earth concentration facilities in France. The total investment value has not been disclosed, as the project is still under initial review.
The partnership comes amid a global push for supply chain diversification to reduce reliance on Chinese rare earths, and is expected to bring French expertise and technology to Malaysia's booming green tech sector.
While Malaysia holds an estimated 16.1 million metric tons of rare earth reserves covering all 17 rare earth elements, it has lacked the mature processing technologies to exploit them independently.
The country has long collaborated with Australia's Lynas and has recently held talks with China, Japan, and South Korea to further develop its rare earth industry.
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