Firm Starts to Commission Rare Earth Pilot Plant in US
The pilot processing facility is part of USA Rare Earth’s strategy to create a domestic supply chain for rare earth magnets.
June 11, 2020
Texas Mineral Resources Corp. and USA Rare Earth LLC announced Thursday that the commissioning of their new rare earth and critical minerals pilot plant in Wheat Ridge, CO is now underway.
Operated by USA Rare Earth, the facility will process rare earths into heavy, middle, and light rare earths and recover minerals that are included in the US Government Critical Minerals List, like aluminum, beryllium, and uranium.
“Establishing an independent domestic rare earth and critical minerals supply chain is monumental for USA Rare Earth and for the United States, overcoming reliance on China for materials and processing that are essential for defense applications and advanced technology manufacturing,” USA Rare Earth Chief Executive Officer Pini Althaus said in a release.
During the final phase of pilot work, the pilot plant’s operations will expand to include separation of high-purity individual REE compounds.
The pilot processing facility is part of USA Rare Earth’s strategy to create a domestic supply chain for rare earth magnets. USA Rare Earth’s plant in Wheat Ridge will use feedstock from the firm’s Round Top Heavy Rare Earth and Critical Minerals Project in West Texas. Materials will be further processed into rare earth magnets at a recently acquired neo magnet plant.
“Together with our recently acquired rare earth magnet manufacturing platform, Round Top and our pilot plant constitute essential links in restoring a mine-to-magnet domestic US rare earth supply chain without the material ever leaving the United States, thereby alleviating the current dependence on China for both raw materials and mineral processing,” said Althaus.
Rare earth magnets are used in a wide variety of applications, including defense, smart phones, medical devices, electric vehicles, and wind turbines. They are also used in 5G network infrastructure.
The global market for rare earth magnets is projected to grow at CAGR of 6.7% between 2019 and 2024 to a value of $18.7 billion, according to a forecast by IMARC.
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