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  • A large multi-mast ship sailing on the open ocean on a clear day.

    EV magnet rare earth price set to sail

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jun 5, 2024

    Adamas forecasts NdPr prices to hit $150/kg to ensure supply keeps pace with auto demand Despite a widely held belief that soaring neodymium-praseodymium prices would press automakers to look at alternatives to these rare earths for magnets going into electric vehicles, Adamas Intelligence forecasts that NdPr oxide prices will double by the end of the decade. NdPr is a combination of the rare earths neodymium and praseodymium used in the powerful neodymium-iron-boron magnets...

  • Rock hammer on a pile of rare earths-enriched rocks at Sheep Creek in Montana.

    Kingly rare earth grades at Sheep Creek

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Feb 15, 2024

    Assay lab results affirm high-grade nature of critical minerals deposit in SW Montana. If "grade is king," then US Critical Materials Corp.'s Sheep Creek in Montana wears the crown when it comes to rare earth projects in the United States. The mining sector mantra "grade is king" alludes to the idea that a mine capable of producing one kilogram of rare earths for every 11 tons of ore dug up will be more profitable and have a smaller environmental footprint than a mine that mus...

  • A Welcome to Louisiana road sign at the border of the Bayou State.

    Louisiana welcomes Ucore rare earths plant

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Dec 2, 2023

    Offers $15 million incentive package for REE separation plant to spur job creation, new opportunities in Gulf Coast state. Louisiana welcomes Ucore Rare Metals Inc. to the Bayou State with an enhanced financial incentive package for establishing the company's first rare earths separation and oxide production facility at a newly selected 80,800-square-foot in the central part of the state. The rare earths that are produced at Ucore's Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex are in...

  • Stacks of reclaimed rare earths from Phoenix Tailings’ technology.

    Phoenix Tailings' first US REE refinery

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Dec 2, 2023

    Highly promising startup reveals first commercial-scale rare earth element refinery in the US. Rising from the ashes, an American startup that was early in the field of rare earth element separation, Phoenix Tailings, has made a brilliant comeback with the announcement of the first rare earth refinery to begin production in the United States. Founded in 2018, Boston-based Phoenix Tailings had a significant head start at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Seeing the potential...

  • A smartphone with Lynas Rare Earths’ locations webpage opened on the screen.

    DOD to invest $258M in Texas REE plant

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Aug 8, 2023

    Lynas to apply the Pentagon funds to develop the first heavy rare earths separation facility outside of China. Continuing its heavy investments into America's critical mineral supply chain, the U.S. Department of Defense has allocated roughly $258 million to support development of the Lynas U.S. Rare Earths processing facility in Texas, which is more than double the original $120 million price tag for establishing the first large-scale heavy rare earth elements separation plan...

  • Six piles of white, yellow, grey, and black rare earth oxide powders.

    Key license for Wyoming rare earth project

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Aug 1, 2023

    NRC issues permit needed to process stockpile of high-grade rare earth material through Rare Element's demo plant being built in Wyoming. Surpassing another major milestone on its path to offering a long-term, reliable, and sustainable domestic supply of separated rare earth elements, Rare Element Resources Ltd. has been issued a license necessary to process previously stockpiled material at its Bear Lodge project in Wyoming. Located in an area of northeastern Wyoming with...

  • Stack of cubes with the periodic table of elements information for rare earths.

    Stellantis secures future US rare earths

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 25, 2023

    Global automaker enters into terms with NioCorp for EV magnet rare earths from the future Elk Creek mine in Nebraska. Continuing a flurry of investments into mining projects at the front end of electric vehicle supply chains, Stellantis has entered into a preliminary agreement to buy magnet rare earths from a future mine at NioCorp Developments Ltd.'s Elk Creek critical mineral project in Nebraska. The neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium that Stellantis hopes to...

  • Blue color chemical compounds being mixed at the RapidSX demo plant.

    Ucore acquires new RapidSX demo REE feed

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 4, 2023

    New US feedstock will further test Ucore's rare earth separation tech at Ont. demo plant. Furthering its goal to demonstrate that its RapidSX technology can separate the entire suite of rare earth elements from a wide range of sources, Ucore Rare Metals Inc. has acquired a third mixed REE concentrate to process at its commercialization and demonstration facility in Kingston, Ontario. "We believe that Ucore's Kingston, Ontario, Demo Plant is currently the largest heavy REE...

  • A hand holds an instrument against bands of pink and cream mineralization.

    Deeper look at Sheep Creek rare earths

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jun 8, 2023

    Latest lab results show high grades extend to depth at REE property in SW Montana. Assay results confirm that high-grade rare earth mineralization identified on the surface at US Critical Materials Corp.'s Sheep Creek project in southwestern Montana continues underground. In early February, the company reported that 52 Sheep Creek surface samples tested by Activation Labs, a Canadian analytical laboratory renowned for its rare earth analysis, returned an average grade of 9%...

  • Industrial complex lights reflect off pond at Energy Metals’ White Mesa Mill.

    Energy Fuels acquires rare earths project

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jun 8, 2023

    In a move that secures high-quality feedstock for its growing rare earths product line, Energy Fuels Inc. has paid $21.9 million to acquire Bahia, a large heavy mineral sands project in Brazil. "Energy Fuels has achieved yet another important milestone for our expanding rare earth business through our acquisition of the Bahia project," said Energy Fuels President and CEO Mark Chalmers. Monazite concentrates produced from the heavy mineral sands at Bahia will be shipped to the...

  • MP Materials’ future rare earths magnet and alloys plant in Texas.

    Texas rare earths magnet plant coming

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 16, 2023

    By the end of next year, the powerful rare earth magnets vital to efficiently transform motion into electricity in wind turbines and electricity into motion in electric vehicles are expected to be rolling off the assembly line at a new 200,000-square-foot facility that MP Materials Corp. is building in Fort Worth, Texas. During a ceremony that attracted Texas lawmakers, General Motors executives, and even a GMC Hummer EV that benefits from the type of rare earth magnets that...

  • Rare earths include 15 individual elements found on the periodic table.

    Elk Creek deposit proves to be rare earth

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 16, 2023

    An updated feasibility study for developing a mine at Elk Creek confirms that the proposed niobium-titanium-scandium mine in Nebraska also boasts one of the richest stores of rare earth elements in the United States. According to the new report released by NioCorp Developments Ltd. on May 19, Elk Creek hosts 632,900 metric tons of total rare earth oxides, 970,300 metric tons of niobium oxide, along with 11,337 metric tons of scandium oxide and 4.2 million metric tons of...

  • Suspended from the rail above, the Red Rail glides from the station.

    China unveils first suspended maglev train

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 16, 2023

    Without any outside forces, a sky train levitates 30 feet above the ground in China's Jiangxi Province, thanks to the powerful forces of rare earth permanent magnets. Unlike magnetic levitation trains that float on a cushion of magnetic resistivity below, the world-first air train effortlessly floats from a rail above. With permanent rare earth magnets on both the rail and an arm above the "Red Rail" train resisting each other, the train can levitate above the ground below,...

  • View across South Saskatchewan River; the Saskatoon city skyline at night.

    A rare earth supply chain master link

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 16, 2023

    Summit spotlights Saskatoon as an emerging rare earths hub in North America Saskatoon, a small city in the heart of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, is emerging as the master link in a North American rare earth supply chain with connections in Canada, Australia, Europe, and the United States. This city of just over 300,000 people on the Canadian Prairies is not gaining notoriety as a major North American rare earth hub due to rich deposits of this suite of 15 enigmatic...

  • Rock hammer size reference of rare earth-bearing rock samples at Sheep Creek.

    High-grade rare earths project emerges

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 16, 2023

    Sheep Creek rare earths project in Montana hosts 13 US critical metals With the transition to electric vehicles charged with low-carbon energy shining a spotlight on America's need for secure and reliable supplies of critical minerals, the Sheep Creek project in southwestern Montana has emerged as a potential high-grade domestic source of nine rare earths and four other metals that have been deemed critical to the United States. High-grade rare earths were found at Sheep...

  • A cream-colored band of rock above an old mine shaft in a Montana hillside.

    Sheep Creek's deeper rare earth potential

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 16, 2023

    Critical materials explorer samples historical adits at high-grade rare earth project in SW Montana. A fall program of underground exploration and sampling by US Critical Materials Corp. further confirms the idea that Sheep Creek is one of the highest-grade rare earth discoveries in the United States and supports the need for drilling to fully understand the scope of critical minerals mineralization at this project in southwestern Montana. High-grade rare earths were found at...

  • Aluminum-cerium alloy being poured from a furnace into a ladle.

    Aluminum alloys offer rare earths balance

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Feb 21, 2023

    The U.S. Department of Energy has published a portfolio of research and development projects on the commercialization of aluminum-cerium alloy that offers a possible solution to the overabundance of the most abundant rare earth element. The clean energy transition depends on critical materials like rare earth elements that power wind turbine generators, electric vehicles, and other clean energy technologies, materials, and processes. Typically, REEs are found together in...

  • As the sun sets, crews mine rare earths ore from a deposit at Nechalacho in NWT.

    A Vital pivot in rare earths strategy

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Feb 2, 2023

    Following an AU$45 million (US$31.6 million) infusion of cash in July, Vital Metals Ltd. has gone through some significant changes that are being reflected in a new strategy that slows the ramp-up of production at the company's rare earths separation plant in Saskatchewan and focuses the company's resources on expanding production at its Nechalacho Mine in Canada's Northwest Territories. Shortly following this financing anchored by AU$30 million (US$21 million) contributed by...

  • Red Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle traveling a California highway near LA.

    Win-win solid-state battery discovery

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Dec 6, 2022

    Energy-dense, stable ceramic lithium battery electrolyte offers new use for a plentiful rare earth element. In what could be a win-win discovery for the future of long-range electric vehicles and the rare earths mining sector, engineers at California-based American Elements have invented a ceramic electrolyte material for use in solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries. Lithium-sulfur batteries can store somewhere between two and five times as much energy by weight than the curren...

  • Rock hammer on a pile of rare earths-enriched rocks at Sheep Creek in Montana.

    US Critical Materials explores Sheep Creek

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Nov 1, 2022

    Begins systematic investigation of overlooked rare earths project in SW Montana. To gain a deeper understanding of the high-grade rare earth mineralization coming to surface at Sheep Creek, and investigate the potential for a larger deposit of this group of technology elements, US Critical Metals Corp. and US Critical Materials Corp. are carrying out detailed mapping and sampling of this overlooked and underexplored project in southwestern Montana. While high-grade rare...

  • Molten rare earth metal being poured into ingot molds.

    Canada first, SRC pours rare earth metal

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Aug 31, 2022

    Major step along the path to establishing Saskatchewan as rare earths hub In another milestone along the path to establishing a major rare earths hub in Saskatchewan, the province announced that the Saskatchewan Research Council poured the first rare earth metal ingots ever in Canada at the REE processing, separations, and metals facility it is developing near the city of Saskatoon. Saskatchewan's mission to become a leader in rare earths processing and production began with...

  • Vivid green northern lights display over mining equipment operating at night.

    Major funding for Vital rare earths plan

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Aug 12, 2022

    Vital Metals Ltd. has received an AU$45 million (US$31.6 million) infusion of cash to fund its expanding rare earths business in Canada. "Vital Metals is on the threshold of becoming North America's only company capable of producing a refined rare earth product from its own mine, completing our transition from exploration and development to production and operations," said Vital Metals Managing Director Geoff Atkins. "This is an important milestone, not only in the development...

  • Bottles of erbium, neodymium, and cerium REE oxides produced in Saskatchewan.

    Saskatchewan increases REE plant funding

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    To further support its strategy to establish Saskatchewan as a major hub for North America's rare earth supply chain, the provincial government is investing an additional C$20 million (US$15.5 million) into the rare earth processing facility that Saskatchewan Research Council is developing near Saskatoon. In the fall of 2020, the Saskatchewan government invested an initial C$31 million (US$24 million) for SRC to build the first facility in North America capable of upgrading...

  • Piles of rare earth element oxides with many high-tech and industrial purposes.

    It's OK, USA Rare Earth plant coming soon

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    The rare earth magnets that help wind turbines transform a breeze into low-carbon electricity and then convert that energy to horsepower in the motors of electric vehicles will soon be made in Oklahoma. On June 9, USA Rare Earth LLC announced it bought a 309,0000-square-foot building in Stillwater, an Oklahoma city that boasts a growing high-tech economy, to house its rare earth elements processing and magnets plant. "Oklahoma has long been on the cutting edge of energy...

  • Smartphone and computer screen showing Lynas Rare Earths’ locations.

    Lynas Rare Earths lands $120M DoD deal

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    The United States Department of Defense is investing US$120 million to fund a heavy rare earths separation facility to be owned and operated by Lynas USA LLC, a subsidiary of Australia-based Lynas Rare Earths Ltd. This facility is to be built alongside a light rare earths separation facility that is being co-funded by the Pentagon and Lynas. "The U.S. Government's selection of Lynas for this strategic contract reflects our proven track record in Rare Earths production," said...

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