USA Rare Earth successfully produces technically-demanding dysprosium from magnet scrap

This milestone establishes the company as one of the few Western producers capable of separating heavy rare earths. Dysprosium is one of the most technically challenging rare earth elements to separate at commercial purity.

The oxides were produced using the fine scrap generated when neodymium-iron-boron magnets are machined and finished, also called swarf, which in this case were sourced from USA Rare Earth's own magnet manufacturing facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Turning that scrap back into high-purity light and heavy rare earth oxide broadens the company’s feedstock options and strengthens the circularity of its value chain, with swarf projected to support up to 30% of future magnetic rare earth oxide feedstock needs.

"The validation of the magnet swarf recycling flowsheet also lays the foundation to potentially incorporate end-of-life magnets as an additional commercial feedstock option," USA Rare Earth explains.

The oxides produced at Wheat Ridge are expected to be sent to Less Common Metals (LCM), USA Rare Earth's subsidiary in the UK, for qualification and conversion into rare earth metals and strip cast.

In turn, the output from LCM is expected to serve as feedstock for USA Rare Earth's magnet manufacturing facilities in the US. LCM is one of the few commercial-scale metal, alloy and strip cast producers outside of Asia.

Additional campaigns underway at Wheat Ridge are expected to process material from USA Rare Earth's Round Top project, in Texas, and from Brazilian miner Serra Verde's Pela Ema mine.

These campaigns are anticipated to produce additional varieties of rare earth and critical mineral oxides in coming weeks, which will further advance USA Rare Earth toward proven capability across every stage of the rare earth value chain - mining, separation, processing, metal making and permanent magnet manufacturing.