Organization:Institute of Rare Earths Elements and Strategic Metals

Type	Private
Industry	science
Founded	2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany
Headquarters	Lucerne, Switzerland
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Arndt Uhlendorff (CEO)
Products	Price information, certificates, bearing
Number of employees	85 (2022)
Website	https://en.institut-seltene-erden.de/

Store in the free trade zone of Zurich Airport 2022

The Institute for Rare Earths and Metals AG is an informal network in the international raw materials market and a player with the "core business" of metal analysis and the storage of contingents of intended or commercially traded substances. The core business has been carried out since 2020 with the Swiss partner company Cosmotrans AG.

The main interest of the institute's customers is the database, which is available on a subscription basis with daily updated prices: In addition to the eponymous Rare-earth element, 900 metals and alloys, and 4,500 other metal products, are listed there. The company's headquarters are located in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Commodity trading position

The unique feature of the Institute for Rare Earths and Metals is its database with the daily updated prices for over 5000 market-relevant materials of Metallurgy, traditionally rare earths and Clean Energy Metals, determined after 10 years of preparation. The data can be viewed by members.

The "core business" described by the Institute itself and also in the Swiss commercial register is the "carrying out of technical, physical and chemical investigations. The company aims to provide services in the field of analysis of raw materials, minerals, metals, rare earths and in the evaluation and storage of such products." Since 2020, transport, storage and insurance for substances prepared for trading (e.g. for analysis) or for substances already on the market have also been arranged for the processing of transactions.

A company activ in this trade describes the importance of the analyses carried out in the institute's laboratories: "The international recognition of the ISE, especially among auditors, universities and banks, gives the Institute's documentation work the desired international acceptance. Therefore, all analyzes and assessments are made exclusively by the ISE. Regarding the cooperation partner Storage of the ISE: "Cosmotrans AG is an independent Swiss joint-stock company that [...] has also been offering the handling of valuable metals for around ten years. Cosmotrans AG is fully accepted by banks and insurance companies."

In the Scientific Services of the German Bundestag of February 2022, the Institute is cited several times in the status report Rare Earths as an Important Resource and described as a "private-sector consulting firm."

Transit trade Switzerland

With the free trade zone in the area of Zurich Airport, the deposited goods are legally not on Swiss soil: "The term transit trade covers all the commercial transactions of companies based in Switzerland in which the goods are bought and sold without the goods ever crossing a Swiss border."

History

After a project call for proposals in 2008, there was a conference with experts "to solve bottlenecks in the manufacturing processes of large industrial companies in the field of rare earths." To collect and analyze the data, the "Institute for Rare Earths" was founded in 2011 as Association.

Formation (self-portrayal)

In a press release in 2012, the Institute stated the following as the motive for founding it:

After the dependence of the world economy on oil, which became imminent in the 1970s, there followed a second dependence at the beginning of the 21st century – the one "on the so-called ‚rare earths‘: These 17 metals, which are difficult to obtain, are becoming needed in numerous high-tech areas [...and] are among the most valuable raw materials in the world today." The largest supplier of the indispensable elements by far is China. The People's Republic has the market in hand. "The reason for this monopoly position is, among other things, that China has so far not paid attention to environmental compatibility when mining. Air, soil and water were ruthlessly polluted."

One reason would also be that China will need its own production in the future: „'If China continues to grow strongly, the People's Republic will change from an exporter to an importer of rare earths in ten years at the latest,' expects Arndt Uhlendorff, chief analyst at the Institute for Rare Earths and Metals.“

From Association to Business Corporation

In 2013, the prices of around 600 metals were regularly available to customers. In 2018, daily updated prices from the areas of rare earths, strategic metals, base metals, technology metals and isotopes were published.

The seat of the institute in the old city hall of Lucerne

Since 2019, the ISE has been cooperating with a Swiss partner company that carries out metal analysis to identify 74 elements. "Verified persons [...] and verified goods that (are) inspected, analyzed and evaluated" are permitted on the trading platform. Together with the partner company, storage facilities were offered from 2020 on “2000 square meters of domestic storage space and 5000 square meters of external storage for high-priced metals”.

2021: The Institute for Rare Earths and Metals trades as Aktiengesellschaft in the Canton of Zug: The reasons for moving to Switzerland were the proximity to the warehouse in the free trade zone Zurich Airport and in cooperation with financial institutions to offer trading programs for commodities. The storage capacity in Zurich is 5500 square meters. In September, the headquarters moved to the old town hall in the city of Lucerne.

The Institute employs eight people in administration and five specialists for handling the offers. In the partner company, 60 people work in the laboratory and 12 in the warehouses.

Due to "strongly increasing demand" for its services, the ISE opened a representative office in Dubai in May 2022,

Informal offer

In addition to the information from the database as a basis for evaluation for customers, the institute's offer also includes services that are necessary for business transactions. In addition to commercially interested parties, the offer is also used by universities and research institutions.

Database and trading platform

Since 2018, the previously informal database has been operated as „Trading platform for rare earths and high-purity metals“ and metal analyses, assessments and bank audits are carried out on behalf of all metals and elements of these groups.

Information Gathering

Since 2008, the institute has been surveying the prices "of regular mine operators, producers, refiners, buyers, sellers, brokers and end customers of the metals recently traded". The “metal prices are calculated from several hundred individual sources in order to determine a representative average price for [..] customers.”

The prices of highly specific metals are determined using a simplified capital value method. Ultimately, the aim is to regulate the relationship between value and price in such a way that market participants can find a consensus on fixed product positions on the basis of "market-oriented pricing".

The Institute advises customers in all stages of the offer, as well as on communication with banks and auditors, on insuring metals and also on special offers."

Metal analysis

The unique selling point in the trading process is the certification of the quality of the material. In addition to the specially issued certificates, the Institute does not recognize any other analysis reports.

The metal analyzes relate to pure metals, metal alloys, non-conductive materials and to (almost) all metal forms and are carried out in accordance with the (ISO standard DINEN ISO 9001) tested laboratories. Analytes are tested for elements from lithium, number 3 to uranium, number 92 on the periodic table to determine purity by elimination. The tests are carried out directly on the solid using GD/MS (glow discharge/mass spectrometry; solid state MS) without chemical breakdown. The analyses are carried out for a measurable purity of up to 99.999 percent.

The measurement is based on the "IFRS 13 - Fair value principle": The IFRS 13 defines the (fair value), presents the measurement of the fair value and explains the Disclosure requirements.

Transport and storage

Since 2020, the storage of metals with related services such as transport, customs formalities, collection is offered. The cooperating Swiss company has been active in this field since 1976. The storage rooms are located in the Swiss domestic area, as well as in the free warehouse at Zurich Airport and in Embraport.

Business relationships

Russian customers: After the invasion of Ukraine, the ISE since February 25, 2022 [..] refused any cooperation with Russian companies. It is noted in the notification that „about 20% [.. of the] turnover is forgone“.

Reception

In the status report of the Scientific Services (WD 5): Economy and Transport, Food and Agriculture of the German Bundestag Rare Earths as an Important Resource of 16. February 2022, the institute's website is a frequently cited source: Information was taken on the history, the elements (list) with use, occurrence (distribution of mining and deposits) and the Chinese monopoly Earth.

Internally, it is reported that the database is accessed 4,500 to 5,000 times a day.

The Institute presents itself on facebook and twitter and publishes a bimonthly Newsletter.