** Shares of Australian rare-earth miners set to end the week as a mixed bag following media reports of Australia considering critical minerals deal with the United States

** Shares of Lynas Rare Earths LYC.AX and Iluka Resources ILU.AX reverse gains seen earlier in the week, and are on track for weekly losses of ~8% and 2.5%, respectively, if current trend holds

** Both stocks hit multi-year highs earlier this week before shedding gains as investors cashed out on the rally

** For the day, Lynas and Iluka are the worst performers in the ASX 200 benchmark

** On the other hand, stocks of Meteoric Resources MEI.AX, Northern Minerals NTU.AX and Australian Strategic Metals ASM.AX maintain their momentum and positioned to end the week 7%, 28% and 76% higher

(Reporting by Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru)

((Sneha.kumar@thomsonreuters.com;))