carbonatite / alkaline
Neodymium prospectivityacross Australia, the USA & worldwide.
Carbonatite and alkaline igneous neodymium systems, ranked and explained across the United States and Australia.
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✓ Australia
Ranked targets
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✓ United States
Ranked targets
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· Canada
Not modelled
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Everywhere else
Global model
Ranked targets come with national models in Australia and the United States. Everywhere else, the global model returns the prospectivity map, the geology behind it and a confidence read. Next, the models are retrained on the full record and new sources, such as hyperspectral imagery, before we use them to rank and select ground.
How we rank neodymium ground
From a country to a decision.
- 01 · Atlas
Know the ground
The geology, structure, recorded deposits, tenure and geochemistry over the ground, on one map with the source of every layer.
See Atlas - 02 · Open Ground
Find ground you can peg
Which ground is open, held or excluded, read from each licensing authority's own register.
See Open Ground - 03 · Prospectivity
Rank it for neodymium
The ground scored for neodymium, with the evidence behind it and ranked targets in Australia and the United States. Anywhere else, the global model maps neodymium.
See Prospectivity - 04 · Spectral
Map the alteration
The alteration minerals and the structures that control them, from satellite: regional to district scale, and camp scale from WorldView-3.
See Spectral - 05 · Due Diligence
Check before committing
Tenure, land access, environment and the real cost to hold and test a neodymium position.
See Due Diligence -
Talk to us about neodymium
Partners, investors, publishers and researchers.
The deposit system
The neodymium system.
Neodymium is a light rare-earth element and one of the lanthanide metals, a soft, silvery metal reactive enough to tarnish in air. It rarely forms minerals of its own, instead substituting into light-rare-earth carriers: the fluorocarbonate bastnäsite, the phosphate monazite, and related species such as parisite, synchysite and, in alkaline rocks, eudialyte and allanite.
Read more: the deposit model, why it matters and where it is used +
More on neodymium
Economic concentrations are won from two intrusive families, and MineDSS models both. Carbonatite and alkaline igneous systems each leave a mappable footprint: altered and veined carbonate and felsic-alkaline rocks, distinctive radiometric and potential-field responses, and a multi-element geochemical halo. That is exactly the pattern a prospectivity model is built to read across large, partly covered terrains.
The deposit model
Both systems concentrate the light rare earths from low-degree partial melts of enriched mantle, which carry incompatible elements upward into the crust. Carbonatite systems crystallise from rare carbonate-rich magmas; the light rare earths, including neodymium, are hosted in bastnäsite and monazite within carbonatite intrusions and in the associated veins, dykes and fenitised alteration halos, as at the classic Mountain Pass style of deposit. Alkaline and peralkaline systems concentrate the same elements in silica-undersaturated syenites, peralkaline granites and pegmatites, where late magmatic and hydrothermal fluids fix rare-earth and high-field-strength minerals. Because the rare-earth minerals also carry thorium and uranium, these systems often present a strong radiometric signature.
Why it matters
Neodymium is the essential ingredient of the strongest commercial permanent magnets, and it is classified as a critical or strategic mineral across several major economies because that role sits at the centre of both the energy transition and defence supply chains. Demand is driven by electric-vehicle traction motors, wind-turbine generators and a widening range of electrified machinery, and forecasts point to substantial growth over the coming decades. Mining and, above all, the separation and refining of rare earths are geographically concentrated, so secure and diversified sources of neodymium carry real weight for industrial resilience and national security. Transparent, defensible targeting of prospective ground therefore matters to explorers and to the governments that permit and support them.
Where it's used
The dominant use of neodymium is in neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnets, the most powerful magnets produced at scale. These magnets drive electric-vehicle and industrial motors, wind-turbine generators, hard-disk drives, robotics and actuators, loudspeakers and headphones, and medical imaging systems, and they are typically alloyed with praseodymium and, for heat resistance, with dysprosium or terbium. Beyond magnets, neodymium is the active ion in Nd:YAG lasers used in medicine, manufacturing and defence, and it colours glass and ceramics, from the didymium glass of welders' and glassblowers' goggles to precision optical filters. It also serves as a catalyst in some synthetic-rubber production.
Questions
Neodymium: common questions.
Which neodymium deposit types does MineDSS model? +
MineDSS models two deposit systems: carbonatite and alkaline igneous rare-earth systems. In carbonatites, neodymium and the other light rare earths are hosted in bastnäsite and monazite within carbonate intrusions and their veins and dykes, the setting of the Mountain Pass style of deposit. In alkaline and peralkaline systems, the same elements are concentrated in silica-undersaturated syenites, peralkaline granites and pegmatites, in minerals such as eudialyte, allanite and loparite. Both derive from incompatible-element-rich melts and share a radiometric and geochemical footprint, which is the pattern the model is built to read; it ranks ground by how closely its evidence matches ground where samples assay anomalously high for the target mineral.
How is the model tested, and where can I run neodymium? +
Every MineDSS model is tested before it is served: we withhold whole blocks of ground, rebuild the model without them, and check that it still ranks the anomalous samples there above background, with test ground kept spatially separate. A model that does not pass our release gates is not used, for any mineral, in any country. National models for neodymium run in Australia and the United States, with ranked targets. Anywhere else in the world, the global model returns the prospectivity map, the geology behind it and a confidence read. Skill is model-level, never a specific site's measured accuracy, and never a discovery or JORC / NI 43-101 resource claim.
Which pathfinder elements track neodymium? +
The classic pathfinders are thorium, uranium, zirconium, niobium, hafnium, tantalum and beryllium, with thorium, uranium and zirconium leading. These incompatible and high-field-strength elements concentrate with the light rare earths in carbonatite and alkaline systems: thorium and uranium ride in rare-earth minerals such as monazite and bastnäsite and register on radiometric surveys, while zirconium, niobium, hafnium and tantalum track the high-field-strength mineralogy of alkaline rocks. These elements are part of the geochemical record our models learn from. In a run on any piece of ground, the map itself is read from geology and rock age, gravity and magnetics, radiometrics, terrain, satellite radar and spectral alteration, so it covers ground that has never been sampled.
Does a high MineDSS score mean a deposit or a resource estimate? +
No. A high score means its evidence closely matches ground where samples assay anomalously high for the target mineral, and it merits closer exploration attention. It is not a discovery, not a JORC or NI 43-101 resource or reserve estimate, and not drilling or investment advice. MineDSS ranks prospectivity to help prioritise where to look; confirming whether neodymium is present, and in what quantity and grade, still requires field programmes, drilling and independent assessment by qualified professionals.
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Partners
Exploration and mining companies interested in working with us.
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Investors
The record, the models and the ground they point to.
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Publishers and researchers
Geological surveys, universities and programmes whose work the record is built on.
MineDSS ranks prospectivity to help you decide where to explore next. It is not a discovery, not a JORC or NI 43-101 resource or reserve estimate, and not drilling or investment advice.