Lynas managing director Amanda Lacaze says American government funding for a rival rare earths miner to build a refinery on US soil does not preclude Lynas’ plans for a similar US government-backed refinery, but she left open the possibility of building elsewhere if the funding were not forthcoming.

Decade-high prices for rare earths drove a quadrupling in Lynas’ half-year profit to $156.9 million, meaning funding is no barrier to pushing ahead with construction of a refinery that could separate both light and heavy rare earths at the one facility in Texas.