(March 27): USA Rare Earth Inc will start commercial shipments of magnets from April, adding to a handful of projects that aim to curb America’s reliance on China for the vital industrial components.
The company’s first rare-earth magnet production line — in Stillwater, Oklahoma — has been commissioned and should reach its full capacity of 600 tonnes per year by the end of December, according to a statement. In January, USA Rare Earth signed a non-binding deal for US$1.6 billion in funding from the Department of Commerce to help build a mine that would feed its magnet production.
Rare-earth magnets are essential in high-tech applications from cars to wind turbines and missiles. The tiny but powerful components gained sudden geopolitical significance a year ago, when Beijing tightened supplies to strong-arm President Donald Trump into signing a trade truce.
USA Rare Earth is among a number of firms already making magnets in the US, albeit at very low volumes compared with China. Those include the Pentagon-backed MP Materials Corp, which runs the country’s sole rare earths mine, as well as German group Vacuumschmelze GmbH and Texas-based Noveon Magnetics Inc.
Creating a robust output outside China is likely to take many years, as magnet plants are just the end-point of a complex supply chain dominated by Beijing at every step. USA Rare Earth bought UK firm Less Common Metals last year to gain access to critical “heavy” rare earths, and wants its Round Top mine in Texas to start up in 2028.
Capacity at the Oklahoma magnet plant should reach 1,200 tonnes a year by 2027, USA Rare Earth said.
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