Asian Metal meets Lipmann Walton & Co Ltd

On October 17th, Asian Metal met with Suzannah Lipmann, a trader with Lipmann Walton, to discuss recent developments in the European rare earth sector. Founded in 1953 by Eric Lipmann, Lipmann Walton & Co Ltd trades in a wide range of different metal commodity sectors and has emerged as one of the premier UK trading houses for critical metals. Lipmann Walton caters to a end users from a number of different industries and currently sources material from suppliers and sellers from around the globe.

While Suzannah admitted Lipmann Walton has only recently (during the past three years) begun to source rare earth metals for their clients, she believes the market has potential as many of the rare earths are critical components for their respective downstream industries. She noted they have primarily focused on rare earth metals with an emphasis on the more valuable heavy rare earths. Many of her buyers, she added, typically only require small amounts of material for highly specified niche applications. She went on to explain that the market for many of these materials is extremely small and specialized and consequently many of the heavy rare earth metals are highly illiquid. Suzannah warned of the dangers of investing in these metals as a limited number of downstream users can make finding an exit strategy extremely difficult.

The discussion then turned towards the importance of a globally diversified supply chain for the rare earth sector. She explained many major end users of rare earth materials are concerned about security of supply and are consequently investing heavily R&D aimed at reducing dependency on certain rare earths that are forecasted to be in shortage. She believes it is critical for the rest of world (ROW) sector to realize the development of RE mines outside of China in order to guarantee the security of supply and discourage the current shift towards alternative technologies. Nevertheless, as has been the case in other metal commodity sectors (recently rhenium), she explained that a massive spike in price levels can often times lead to a plethora of alleged junior mining ventures hoping to satisfy the supply deficit. Many of these projects, she explained, unfortunately do not fully understand the economics and mechanics of bringing a profitable mine for the respective metal/s, in this case rare earths, to production.

Suzannah appreciated Asian Metal’s comprehensive understanding of the RE markets and the meeting concluded with a mutual desire to establish stronger inter-company communication channels in the future.