USA Rare Earth Inks Supply Deal For Rare Earth Metals With Australian Strategic Materials
By Breanna Sandridge, Senior Editor
A vertically integrated magnet technology company, USA Rare Earth, LLC (USARE)has signed a multi-year supply agreement with Australian Strategic Materials Ltd. (ASM), a producer of critical metals for advanced and clean technologies, to secure rare earth metals for use in USARE’s production of high-performance rare earth magnets.
Rare earth metals, including battery-grade lithium, gallium, zirconium, hafnium, and beryllium, are central to a variety of technologies such as electric vehicles, windmills, and solar panels.
This agreement will advance USARE’s commitment to bringing the production of high-performance magnets back to America by scaling up operations that do not rely on China for critical rare earth element production.
“Having a supply agreement in place with ASM plays a critical role in delivering on our vision of achieving magnet production in 2024,” said USA Rare Earth CEO Tom Schneberger. “ASM provides us with predictable access to a non-Chinese supply of rare-earth metals, which allows us to ramp up our initial production and accelerate our goal of generating revenue, while we continue to construct our own mine.”
In 2022, USARE announced it was investing more than US$100 million to develop a rare earth metal manufacturing facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Production is scheduled to begin in 2024, and the company plans on also supplying the facility with rare earth feedstock mined from its Red Rock property in Texas by 2026.
Initial magnet production targets are set at nearly 1,200 tons per year, but USARE already has plans to add additional production lines to increase its Stillwater facility capacity to 4,800 MT per year as quickly as possible.
These projects are made possible by three rounds of funding hosted by USARE, which secured more than $50 million, with substantial contributions made by Evolution VC Partner, Ruttenberg Gordon Investments, and Navajo Transitional Energy Company.
