A A$100 million mine that will tap into the richest known deposit of rare earths in the world officially opened today in Western Australia's Goldfields region.

The Mt Weld mine, about 35km south of Laverton, is a Lynas Corporation project over the past 10 years.

The ore will be concentrated at Mount Weld before it is exported to Lynas' advanced materials processing plant in Kuantan, Malaysia, and then sold globally.

WA state premier Colin Barnett said it was the first significant rare earth mine opened outside of China for many years and added important new capacity to WA's already diverse resources sector.

"Employing up to 90 people at full capacity, the mine is expected to contribute at least $17 million in annual royalty payments to the state," he said in a statement.

The Australian Associated Press said rare earths was the term used for 15 metallic elements found within a "cocktail" of elements needed to be separated for commercial use.

They are used in advanced materials, batteries and electronic devices such as computers, high definition televisions, mobile phones, audio devices,  advanced electricity generation including hybrid car technologies.

The Mt Weld mine is expected to be in production for 20 years.

China supplies about 95 per cent of the global rare earths market, but limits its supply to the rest of the world.

Based on estimates, Lynas could be supplying about eight per cent of the world market in 2012 and about 14 per cent in 2013.

'Very close to putting up a sold out sign'

Lynas executive chairman Nick Curtis said the company had already allocated about 70 per cent of its 11,000 million tonnes from stage one of its projects, but was leaving itself some room for flexibility.

"We are getting very close to putting up a sold out sign," Curtis said, adding that there was plenty of interest in the remaining offtake.

"There are industrial companies examining their supply chain which are very interested in having strategic discussions about long-term relationships," he was quoted as saying in 'The Australian' newspaper.

Curtis said the opening of its Mt Weld mine was significant not just for the company but also Australia.

"The Mt Weld opening is a great milestone for us. It is the first rare earth mine to be opened in Australia, which shows that Australia has a diversity of minerals to supply its trading partners," he added.

Lynas had faced vehement community opposition to its processing plant in Kuantan.

A review by the International Atomic Energy Agency of the US$220 million plant, commissioned by the Malaysian government to appease concerned residents, did not find any non-compliance with international safety standards, but it identified that the company needed to better engage with locals.

Curtis said that engagement with communities in general had to be a lot higher than it was a decade ago.

He said if the company had done enough community engagement originally it would not have faced the backlash it did.

"You have to cope with that and find ways to improve. It is an ever shifting issue.

"One of the big things for us was we underestimated the power of social media in pushing this issue," said Curtis.

- Bernama