Transparency and security of supply: Noble Elements celebrates its 10th anniversary

What is gallium? As professional metal traders, the two always informed their customers about the technologies for which their metals were needed. Both of them already had knowledge of technology metals and rare earths from their professional past. When they founded Noble Elements, they focused on what they considered to be the five most important metals. Their focus was not so much on the price, but on the promising future uses of the metals. Their initial choice fell on the five technology metals gallium, indium, rhenium, germanium and hafnium as well as the light rare earth neodymium oxide. Later, the heavy rare earths terbium oxide, gadolinium oxide, scandium oxide and dysprosium oxide were added. These are essential for magnet production and therefore for the success of the energy and transportation transition.

For this reason, the media has now also recognized the importance of production-critical metals. Society is increasingly realizing that these metals not only play a crucial role in the energy transition, but also in digitalization, medical progress and our ability to defend ourselves. Gallium has even made it into the popular science program Galileo because this commodity is part of high-demand semiconductors and high-performance solar cells.

What is even more significant, however, is China’s quasi-monopoly of these metals and the associated threat to European security of supply. The situation is particularly extreme for the rare earths imported by Europe, over 90% of which come from China. The People’s Republic could initiate supply freezes at any time, as it has done in the past. The possible invasion of the island of Taiwan must also be included in these scenarios, which would mean that no more rare earths would reach us via the South China Sea. Noble Elements’ raw material stockpile is therefore a precaution for times of crisis. Because even if supplies were to stop completely, our critical industry could continue to produce for a few more months.

In 2018, the Noble Group came up with the brilliant idea of revolutionizing the metal trade with a new security standard: The Finomet concept was born. This was founded in 2020, and since then investors have been able to secure their metals in a modern way via digital funds utilization control. Noble Elements outsourced its private client business to Noble BC, which was founded in 2022 specifically for this purpose. Instead, the company now focuses 100% on supplying the industry with scarce metallic commodities, which it has also been importing itself since 2021.

And the journey is far from over. Securing the raw material supply for Germany and Europe remains our mission. To this end, we want to create new and secure supply chains for commodities that are produced as “green” as possible. For example, we want to create an association of companies involved in the trade in technology metals and rare earths that is dedicated to building up processing capacities in the western world. We have already established promising contacts, including with a mine in South Africa that could supply Europe with the four most important heavy rare earths for the production of permanent magnets and electric motors. Stay loyal to us and join us in the adventure of supply security!