Magnetics Business & Technology - March/April 2021 - 24

INDUSTRY NEWS

DoD Awards Contracts to Strengthen Industrial Base for Rare Earths Production in U.S.
DoD contracts also went to TDA Magnetics of Rancho Dominguez, California and to Urban Mining Company of San Marcos,
Texas for rare earth element magnet supply chain studies and
inventory demonstrations. The funding was $2.3M and $0.86M,
respectively.
Earlier, in July, the DoD struck a $28.8 million agreement with
Urban Mining as part of the national response to Covid-19. Now
operating from its brand new magnet recycling and production
plant near Austin, the startup company received the funding to
maintain and protect critical workforce capabilities during the
disruption caused by the pandemic while strengthening a vital
domestic supply-chain of rare earth materials, the government
said.

Seeking to build a domestic industrial base in the United States
for producing rare earth magnets, the U.S. Department of Defense has been pouring money into a string of operations across
the country. Fundings have gone recently to MP Materials for its
neodymium mine in Mountain Pass, California, shown above,
to magnetics recycler Urban Mining in Texas, to neodymium
producer Rare Earths Salts in Nebraska and to the Australian
rare earths mining company Lynas for building a process plant in
Texas, among others.
In November, as part of the government's strategy to ensure
secure and reliable supplies of critical minerals, DoD announced
contracts and agreements with several rare earth element producers in its efforts to strengthen the rare earths supply chain in
America.
MP Materials, owner of the largest rare-earth mine outside of
China, will receive a $9.6 million technology investment to add
value-add processing and separation capabilities to its mine and
processing facility at Mountain Pass near Las Vegas. MP will
refine its current mixed rare earth concentrate production, which
represents approximately 12 percent of global rare earth oxide
content, into separated rare earth products at its site, shown in
the top photo.

Rare Earth Salts plant in Nebraska
In September, the Defense Logistics Agency increased the scope
of its project with Rare Earth Salts to expand the company's production to 20 tons per year of neodymium praseodymium. Under
a Rapid Innovation Fund project, Rare Earth Salts has been scaling up capacity of their low capital and operating cost technology
at their Beatrice, Nebraska facility. Rare Earth Salts made their
first deliveries of high purity refined rare earth elements to an
industry partner in 2020.
In August, DoD announced that it had selected Australian rare
earths mining company Lynas Corporation to draw up plans for a
new rare earths separations facility in the U.S., which is probably
planned for a site in Texas. Lynas announced in 2019 that it had
formed a joint venture with Blue Line Corporation involving the
company's site in Hondo for a plant there. Headquartered in San
Antonio, Blue Line is a manufacturer of inorganic salts including
rare earths for industrial and high-tech applications.
The recent awards add to a series of initiatives involving rare
earths that the DoD has taken in recent years to ensure supply
and strengthen defense supply chains. Specific actions include
stockpiling, implementing rules to transition defense supply
chains to non-Chinese sources of rare earth element magnets,
launching engineering studies, and a sustainment program
focused on re-establishing domestic heavy rare earth element
processing.

Urban Mining receives two DoD fundings

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