USA Rare Earth produces dysprosium, NdPr from recycled magnets

US mining and manufacturing company USA Rare Earth has produced commercial-grade dysprosium oxide and neodymium-praseodymium oxide from recycled magnet scrap at its Wheat Ridge, Colorado, facility, the company said July 14.

The milestone positions the company among a handful of Western producers capable of separating heavy rare earths outside Asia and comes as the company advances plans to deploy $1.6 billion in federal backing to expand domestic rare-earth capacity.

Earlier this year, USA Rare Earth announced an acquisition of Brazil's Serra Verde Group, owner of a mine at the Pela Ema deposit, which produces all four magnetic rare earth elements, including dysprosium, NdPr and terbium.

"Dysprosium is one of the most technically challenging rare earth elements to separate at commercial purity, and today virtually all Dy oxide is produced in China. While NdPr provides the magnetic foundation of NdFeB permanent magnets, dysprosium is added in smaller quantities to allow magnets to retain performance and coercivity at high operating temperatures, a requirement of the aerospace, defense, electric vehicle, robotics, and industrial motor applications that NdFeB magnets enable," USA Rare Earth said in a statement.

The oxides were extracted from scrap generated during magnet machining at the company's Stillwater, Oklahoma, magnet manufacturing plant. The company expects the scrap to supply up to 30% of future magnetic rare-earth oxide feedstock needs, strengthening circularity across its integrated value chain from mining to magnet production.

The separated oxides will be sent to Less Common Metals, USA Rare Earth's UK subsidiary, and one of the few commercial-scale metal, alloy, and strip cast producers outside Asia, for qualification and conversion into rare earth metals. The output will serve as feedstock for the company's US magnet manufacturing facilities.

The production milestone highlights growing Western efforts to build rare-earth processing capacity amid geopolitical tensions reshaping global supply chains.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed dysprosium oxide at $2,100/kilogram delivered to North America June 30, more than 855% above the $220/kg China price, reflecting export restrictions. NdPr oxide showed a narrower divergence at $120/kg CIF North America versus $110/kg FOB China.