Methodology
Methodology: how we verify and grade every fact
The directory publishes a fact only after it is traced to a named document, read in context, checked against a second source where one exists, graded and dated. Every record carries one of four confidence grades, and the grade cannot be higher than the cited sources support.
Verified through Oct 1, 2026
- Records graded
- 4113 High, 12 Medium-High, 16 Medium, 0 Low
- Documents cited
- 369From 172 sites
- Official or company
- 50%Share of cited documents that are primary
- Last full verification
- Oct 1, 2026
How does the directory verify a fact?
A fact is verified by finding the document it comes from, reading the claim in context, checking it against a second source where one exists, grading the record and dating it. Each step leaves something a reader can check on the page.
- Find the documentStart with the filing, the agency release or the company report. If the original cannot be opened, use independent press and say what kind of source it is.
- Read the claim in contextRead the figure in the document, not in a headline: its units, its basis and its date. Resource and capacity figures keep the basis the document gives.
- Check a second sourceA status or an amount that matters, such as a financing, a closing or a start date, is checked against another source where one exists. Differences are shown, not averaged.
- Grade the recordEach mine or company gets one confidence grade from the minimum-evidence rules below. The build fails if a grade claims more evidence than the page cites.
- Date itEvery page shows when it was last verified, and timelines carry the dates of the events themselves.
What do the confidence grades mean?
A confidence grade rates the evidence behind one record, a mine or a company, on four levels: High, Medium-High, Medium and Low. It says nothing about a project's merit, and it can never be higher than the cited sources support.
| Grade | What it means | Minimum evidence | What lowers it | Records now | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | Owner, status, location and the headline figures are confirmed in primary sources, and the sources agree. | At least two primary sources cited (official records or company documents). | Lowered when sources disagree on a headline figure, or when a main fact rests on one company statement. | 13 | Mountain Pass, MP Materials |
| Medium-High | The main facts are confirmed in at least one primary source. Some figures rest on the company, and say so. | At least one primary source cited. | Lowered when a headline figure is company-reported only, or the evidence is thin. | 12 | Halleck Creek, NioCorp |
| Medium | Identity facts are confirmed, but key figures rest on press, historic data or a company claim, or the sources conflict and the page shows both. | No minimum. Early-stage projects without a current qualified-person estimate are capped here. | Lowered to Low when only one source exists. | 16 | Sheep Creek, Lynas USA |
| Low or Low-Medium | One source, or a company claim that nothing else supports. Treat as a lead, not a fact. | No minimum. | None. | 0 | None now. Rows without a profile are not graded |
41 records are graded: 14 mines, projects and mills and 27 companies. "Primary" means an official record or a company document; research papers, press, syndicated copies and reference works do not count toward the minimum. See the evidence behind every grade.
A grade describes a record, not each fact. Individual figures carry their own labels, such as "(company-reported)", "up to" or "computed". Early-stage projects without a current estimate by a qualified person are capped at Medium, and a record whose sources conflict on a headline figure is graded lower until the page shows both figures.
Which sources count, and in what order?
Official records come first, then company documents, then research papers and independent press. Syndicated copies and reference works are labeled and are never the only source for a number, a status or a government amount.
| Type | What it is | How it is used | Cited now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official record | An SEC filing, or a release, report or dataset from an agency such as USGS, the Department of Energy, the Department of War, EXIM, Commerce or the Forest Service, or from a state or local government. | Can support a number, a date or a status on its own. | 116 31% |
| Company document | A company's own release, report, website or investor page, including a release distributed through a news wire. | Supports facts about the company's own actions, such as a financing that closed or a plant that opened. Its claims about resources, capacity and schedules are labeled company-reported. | 67 18% |
| Research paper | A peer-reviewed paper or review. | Used for resource figures and context, such as the July 2026 review of US rare earth deposits. | 4 1% |
| Independent press | News and trade-press reporting, or another third-party document such as a letter from an advocacy group, by a party that is not the subject. | Corroborates documents and covers what documents do not, such as lawsuits, interviews and local reaction. A number that rests only on press is labeled. | 140 38% |
| Syndicated copy | A copy or auto-summary of a company release or filing on an aggregator, a stock-news site or a paid-promotion platform. | Cited only where the original could not be opened. Counted as press-grade evidence and never as primary. | 36 10% |
| Reference work | An encyclopedia or a data-profile page. | Background and history only. Never the only source for a status, a number or a government amount. | 6 2% |
Where a primary document exists but could not be opened, the page cites press or a copy and the tag says so. About 50% of the 369 documents cited today are not primary. The full list, with the pages that cite each document, is on the Sources page.
What do the status labels mean?
Every mine, project and plant carries one of eight status labels, and every government support item carries one of five. Each label has one definition, used with the same words on every page, so a status always means the same thing.
| Label | Applies to | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Producing rare earths | Mines and projects | Mining or processing rare earth material for sale today. |
| Other commodity with rare earth by-product or plan | Mines and projects | An operating mine of another commodity (coal or titanium sands, for example) that yields a rare earth mineral as a by-product or has a rare earth recovery plan that is not yet commercial. |
| Development | Mines and projects | Resource defined; feasibility, permitting or financing under way; no commercial rare earth output. |
| Exploration | Mines and projects | Drilling or sampling; no feasibility-grade resource, or no rare earth resource estimate yet. |
| Historic or prospect | Mines and projects | Known occurrence in USGS data without a current development program. |
| Processing / manufacturing (operating) | Plants | A plant that separates, refines, alloys, magnetizes or recycles, with commercial output under way. |
| Processing / manufacturing (building) | Plants | A plant under construction or commissioning. |
| Processing / manufacturing (planned) | Plants | A plant that is announced or financed but not yet under construction. |
| Label | What it means |
|---|---|
| Closed or awarded | Money invested or an award made. |
| Announced | Publicly announced or approved; closing not confirmed here. |
| Conditional commitment | A commitment that depends on conditions being met. |
| Non-binding letter | A letter of intent or interest with no binding obligation. |
| Under review | An application in technical or credit review. |
The government support tracker uses these five labels on every row. A selection for award negotiation is listed as announced, because the agency says it is not a commitment to issue an award.
Exploration projects also carry an evidence tier: A is an estimate by a qualified person under NI 43-101 or JORC, B is company-reported drilling or sampling, and C is historic or government data only. See the exploration page.
What happens when sources disagree?
The directory shows both figures with their sources, says which is newer or which is a company claim, and does not average or choose the convenient one. If only one outlet reports a point, the page says so.
| Topic | What the sources say | How the page shows it |
|---|---|---|
| Sheep Creek grade | Company statements give about 9% total rare earth elements. The OSTI review cites about 20% total rare earths, and does not state the sample basis. | Both figures sit in one table with their sources, labeled as sample values. There is no resource estimate, and the page says so. |
| White Mesa heavy rare earths | Earlier company statements and some summaries gave mid-2027 for commercial dysprosium and terbium. The Q2 2026 10-Q, the latest filing, says the circuits of the expansion that began construction on Jul 29, 2026 are due by the end of 2027, with commissioning as early as Q4 2027. | The pages use the latest filing and note the earlier date, and the 10-Q is cited for it. |
| Lynas Seadrift funding | Mining Weekly reported the Department of Defense contract at $258M. Lynas said in Aug 2025 that it had received $288M. | The page gives each figure with its source and says the two should be read as stated, not reconciled. |
When a newer document replaces an older figure, the page uses the newer one and the change is logged on the updates page. For example, Bokan Mountain now shows Ucore's Apr 2026 estimate of 5.15 Mt at about 0.58% TREO.
How are numbers, units and dates written?
Numbers keep the unit and basis their source gives, money is in US dollars, dates are written like Oct 1, 2026, and anything that comes only from a company is labeled company-reported. The same word means the same thing on every page.
| Convention | What it means |
|---|---|
| TREO and TREE | TREO is total rare earth oxide and TREE is total rare earth elements. A page uses the term its source uses. 391 ppm TREE is the same grade as 0.0391%, or about 0.04%. |
| Tonnes | Metric tonnes. "t/yr" is tonnes per year. A capacity figure always says what it measures (feed, oxide, metal or magnet), because the bases are not comparable. |
| Resources | "Mt" is million tonnes of mineralized material. Contained TREO is computed as tonnage times grade when a company does not publish it, and the data downloads flag that value as computed. |
| Company-reported | A resource, capacity, schedule or cost that comes from the company and that no independent party has confirmed. The page says "(company-reported)" next to it. |
| Targets | A schedule or capacity the company aims for is called a target or a goal. It is never written as a result. |
| Money | US dollars. "Up to" amounts count at the ceiling in totals and the page says so. Money announced is not described as money received. |
| Dates | Written "Oct 1, 2026". When a source gives only a month, a quarter or a year, the page gives that and no more. "Date not stated" means the source does not say. |
| Agency names | The name used in the source document: "Department of War" or "Department of Defense", and "Office of Strategic Capital" for the department's lending arm. |
| Percent held | An ownership share is given with its date, for example about 19% of common shares as of Nov 2025. |
How often are facts re-checked?
Core pages are re-verified every quarter, SEC filings and company releases are checked weekly, and a confirmed error is fixed within 48 hours and logged. The date at the top of each page is the last full verification.
- Re-verified every quarterEvery finished page is read again against its sources. The page date moves only when that pass is done.
- Checked weeklyFilings and releases from the companies tracked are scanned for changes to a status, an amount or a schedule.
- Fixed within 48 hoursA confirmed correction is made and logged. Reports are handled on the corrections page.
Facts on live pages are verified through Oct 1, 2026. A page whose date is older than the schedule above is overdue, and the date says so. Timelines show the date of each event, which can be newer than the page date.
What does the directory not verify?
The directory does not assay samples, visit sites, audit resource estimates or confirm what a private company does not disclose. Map pins are approximate, capacity figures are company statements, and legal matters are reported as allegations.
- No independent measurementResource figures are the company's own, prepared by a qualified person. The directory reports them and labels the evidence tier.
- Approximate pinsMap pins mark a place, not a surveyed point. The data downloads call the coordinates approximate.
- Private companiesOwnership and funding of private companies rest on company releases and press. Where that is all there is, the grade says so.
- Capacity is not outputCapacity figures are targets or nameplate numbers on different bases. Output appears only where a company reports it.
- Allegations, not findingsLawsuits and controversies are reported as allegations, with the response where one exists. The directory takes no view on the merits.
- Not every company is profiledSome rows in the tables have no profile yet. They carry a grade and appear as plain rows until a profile is written.
Questions about the methodology
Who checks the facts?
Research and drafting use an AI assistant that searches the web and reads public documents. Each figure is tied to a source you can open, and the publisher is responsible for what is published. The editorial policy explains how.
Does a public company get a higher grade?
No. A grade follows the evidence cited on the record, not whether a company is listed. A private company can be graded High if two primary sources support it, and a public one can be graded Medium if its key figures rest on press or a company claim.
Can a confidence grade change?
Yes. A grade moves when the evidence changes, and every change is logged on the updates page. On Oct 1, 2026 three records were lowered to match the minimum-evidence rules.
What does "company-reported" mean?
It marks a figure that comes from the company and that no independent party has confirmed, such as a resource estimate, a capacity target or a schedule. The directory reports it and labels it.
Does the directory test or measure anything itself?
No. It does not assay samples, visit sites or audit resource estimates. Resource figures are those of the company's qualified person under a reporting code such as NI 43-101 or JORC, and are labeled by evidence tier on the exploration page.
About this directory
Where do I go next?
- About What the directory covers, who maintains it and how to cite it.
- Sources Every document the pages cite, by type, with the pages that cite it.
- Editorial policy Independence, no investment advice, how companies and disputes are written about.
- Report a correction How to tell us about an error or a newer fact, and what happens next.
- Get listed Add a company or project, or claim a profile. Free, and nothing can be bought.
- Updates log Dated changes to published facts, and why each was made.