The U.S. government is offering companies $24 million to prototype and test projects that retrieve rare earth critical minerals from scrap materials to make into advanced magnets.
The grants are being offered in the first part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s “Critical Minerals and Materials Accelerator” funding notice. Applications are due June 25.
Rare earth minerals for use in magnets have been identified as being of particular interest by the U.S. government in collaborative industry projects to develop technologies in high-impact areas.
The idea is to foster a domestic supply chain for critical minerals that promotes national security while uplifting American industry.
Creating a Domestic Pipeline for Rare Earth Magnet Elements
The DOE explains in the funding offer that the grants are to create “a pipeline to support technology maturation to ultimately unlock private capital investments.”
The agency is particularly interested in promoting private industry backing to prototype the recovery of the following critical minerals from secondary sources of scrap.
These magnet rare earth elements are:
- Neodymium,
- Praseodymium,
- Dysprosium, and
- Terbium.
High-strength magnets are made with neodymium and praseodymium. These can be found in wind turbines and electric vehicle motors.
Defense systems need magnets made with dysprosium and terbium to withstand high temperatures.
Other critical mineral projects sought in the initial grant offering include aluminum, cobalt, copper, electrical steel, gallium, germanium, nickel and silicon.
Extracting Rare Earth Elements From Scrap
These research and development grants also involve demonstrating the viability of projects. The magnet rare earth elements should be recovered and produced from:
- Postindustrial manufacturing scrap—i.e., from waste generated during refining other primary metal products or manufacturing components,
- Postconsumer scrap—especially electronic waste and electric drivetrains containing permanent magnet machines (motors or generators),
- Combinations of feedstocks—such as mine tailings (phosphoric acid sludge, red mud from bauxite) and tailings from metal mines (nickel, gold, copper and platinum).
The importance of critical minerals for rare earth magnets was outlined in a 2024 report to Congress outlining their importance for Department of Defense operations.
“These are frequently integrated into components (e.g., integrated circuits, electrical wiring, or optoelectronic devices) or structures (e.g., aircraft fuselages or ship hulls) of numerous military platforms and weapon systems,” the report stated.
“There are few, and, in some cases, no known alternatives for these materials, which often have unique physical properties (such as high material strength coupled with resistance to corrosion or low density).”
DOE expects to select from 10 to 14 projects. Individual grants will be awarded up to $2 million.
Rare Earth Magnet Ventures Fueling New Jobs
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott unveiled in February an expansion project by MP Materials Corp. to create a rare earth magnet manufacturing campus in Northlake. The project with a $1.25 billion capital investment is expected to add some 1,500 new jobs.
The state is providing a $53.4 million grant to enable the company to produce neodymium-iron-boron magnets that are critical semiconductor manufacturing components.
“We are advancing key objectives under our public-private partnership with the Department of War and accelerating America’s rare earth and magnet independence with an uncompromising focus on speed, execution, and delivery,” noted James Litinsky, MP Materials founder, chairman and CEO in media release issued by the governor’s office.
North Carolina’s Johnston County was selected by Vulcan Elements to expand its neodymium iron boron rare earth magnet production capacity. Gov. Josh Stein announced the venture last year.
“Along with semiconductors and batteries, rare earth magnets are critical components for almost all technologies that use motors, sensors, generators, or actuators–from hard disk drives, robotics, and drones to satellites, submarines, and nearly every defense system,” noted the governor’s office.
The project is being backed by a U.S. Office of Strategic Capital joint $700 million conditional loan commitment with Vulcan Elements and ReElement Technologies to bolster the U.S. supply chain for domestic magnet production.
In a related venture, United Rare Earths last year licensed two technologies from the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The technologies will be used at a new spent magnet recycling and separation facility in Caryville, Tenn.
“These technologies support the creation of high-performance magnets engineered to use significantly less rare earth content,” according to ORNL.
Jeffrey Willis, United Rare Earths chairman, underscored the importance of critical minerals to national security.
