Lynas also wants to be involved with new rare earth magnet makers in the U.S. and other countries outside China and is open to taking an equity stake. "There are seven magnet projects coming to market in the U.S., many of which actually have some form of government funding, which de-risks them," Lacaze said, adding there are probably more magnet projects in the U.S. than in the rest of the world combined. "We want to be able to participate either on an operational or a supply or an equity basis in this part of the supply chain," she said. The miner last month signed an agreement with Korea's JS Link to develop a magnet facility in Malaysia where it has processing operations. Lynas' net profit after tax came in at A$8 million ($5.20 million) for the year ended June 30, a sharp decline from an A$84.5 million reported a year earlier. The annual figure also missed the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of A$30.4 million.