22 Jan Australia’s Lynas to build a rare earth plant in the US

22nd Jan Australia’s Lynas to build a rare earth plant in the US.

Lynas Rare Earths, a rare earths producer from Australia and Malaysia, has signed an agreement with the US government to build a commercial light rare earth separation plant in the US.

Lynas USA, its wholly owned subsidiary, will collaborate with the US Department of Defense on an initiative sponsored by the Title III Defense Production Act program to build the plant, which is expected to be located in the state. from Texas, Lynas said.

Detailed costs will be finished with financing from the US Department of Defense, which is expected a maximum of $30mn, and Lynas is expected to contribute a similar amount under the agreement.

The plant is expected to produce around 5,000 t/y of rare earth products, including around 1,250 t/y of neodymium and praseodymium from permanent magnet metals. It will receive material directly from the new cracking and leaching facility Lynas is developing at Kalgoorlie in Western Australia (WA).

The plant’s production will serve both the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) and the growing commercial market for rare earth products, including electric vehicles and green technologies in the US. as in global markets, Lynas added.

Lynas is the only non-Chinese commercial producer of separate rare earth products for the global market. “While the demand for rare earth materials continues to grow, Covid-19 has exposed the risks within global supply chains of single sourcing critical materials,” said CEO Amanda Lacaze.

Lynas, the world’s second largest rare earth producer, has a mining operation at Mt Weld in WA and a processing plant at Kuantan in Malaysia.

Source: World Energy Trade.