May 20, 2026 — Mkango Resources has signed an asset purchase agreement with metals company Heraeus to acquire its startup Remloy rare earth magnet recycling business in Germany for $9.4 million with plans to link it to Mkango’s subsidiary HyProMag which just opened its own magnet recycling plant in the country. Meanwhile, the company reports other significant new technical and business developments at HyProMag, which is based in Birmingham in the UK.
Inside the Remloy deal
The Remloy business is centered around a startup plant which Heraeus developed in 2024 for recycling end-of-life rare earth magnets via a melting process to produce neodymium-iron-boron alloy powders for the bonded and hot deformed magnet markets. The medium loop recycling process is complementary to HyProMag’s short loop recycling process to produce sintered magnets, says Mkango. Terms are $5.6 million payable in cash on closing, expected within the next three months, and $3.5 million payable two years after closing.
The Remloy plant is in Bitterfeld, located about 530 km north of HyProMag’s new plant in Pforzheim. Currently, the Remloy plant is fully commissioned and production test runs are underway for customer samples, with first commercial sales of NdFeB alloy powder product targeted by the end of the year. It holds a large stockpile of rare earth magnet and alloy feedstock totaling more than 300 tons that underpins operations and provides future trading opportunities. Total capacity of the production facility is 500 tons of NdFeB alloy per year and the plant is targeting scale-up to this level of production over the next few years with minimal capital expenditure required.
Potential synergies with the Mkango group include the supply of end-of-life magnets from the Remloy stockpile for processing by the HyProMag group, supply of feedstock to Remloy derived from processing of magnet scrap by HyProMag, technical and grant funding collaboration between Mkango, Remloy, HyProMag, University of Birmingham and University of Pforzheim, and co-marketing of products from Mkango, HyProMag and Remloy, providing an expanded product suite.
Other opportunities envisioned include supplying primary rare earth feedstock from Mkango’s Songwe Hill project to Remloy operations for blending with recycled feedstock, along with scale-up of existing operations and bolt on opportunities for other rare earth metal and alloy process technologies such as strip casting.
“We are very pleased to announce this transaction and look forward to working with the Remloy team and all stakeholders to grow the Remloy business within Mkango and to further develop the rare earth supply chain and ecosystem for recycling and magnet manufacturing in Germany and its neighbours,” commented William Dawes, CEO of Mkango. “On April 28, 2026, HyProMag GmbH’s production facility in Pforzheim was officially opened by senior representatives of the German Government and following this Transaction, Mkango will have two rare earth plants in Germany with the capability to provide customers with a sustainable supply of rare earth products for the sintered, bonded and hot deformed magnet markets.”
“I am very pleased to continue the Remloy journey together with Mkango,” said David Bender, head of Remloy. “The Remloy team has worked hard to develop the business to this point, and the next phase will be about execution: bringing products to customers, scaling commercial activities, and leveraging synergies across the Mkango group. I am convinced that this setup provides a strong basis to further develop rare earth magnet production and recycling capabilities in Germany and Europe.”
Frank Stietz, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors of the Heraeus Group, said: “The sale of Heraeus Remloy is a logical step in our strategic portfolio optimization. Over the past few years, the Remloy team has built a strong technological foundation through great dedication and entrepreneurial pioneering spirit. With Mkango as a leading company in the sector, we have found the right partner for Remloy to realize future growth.”
OEM collaborations and technical milestones at HyProMag
In late April, Mkango reported an update on HyProMag at its commercial scale rare earth magnet recycling and manufacturing facility at Tyseley Energy Park in Birmingham along with technical milestones in its commercialization of the Hydrogen Processing of Magnet Scrap (HPMS) technology, developed nearby at the University of Birmingham and licensed by HyProMag.
Highlights include:
- Collaboration with potential customer Siemens AG, which has incorporated recycled NdFeB magnets produced by HyProMag into a SIMOTICS servomotor rotor presented recently at this year’s Hannover Messe.
- In parallel with supply of magnet samples to multiple customers, HyProMag has produced 9.2 tons of recycled NdFeB alloy powder to date following commissioning of the HPMS vessel last year, of which 7.4 tons has been shipped to customers.
- Pre-processing of hard disk drives has begun utilizing the recently commissioned automated pre-processing unit at TEP, developed and manufactured by Spanish engineering company Inserma Anoia of Barcelona. The first full batch of HDD-derived magnet scrap feedstock is ready for HPMS processing, and processing of HDDs will be scaled up over the coming months.
- Evaluation is underway for a phased expansion of TEP plant capacity starting next year, initially to 100-350 tpa of NdFeB alloys and magnets and subsequently to 1,000 tpa.
“The HyProMag team continues to develop and grow, with increasing quantities and types of NdFeB outputs produced at the plant,” commented Nick Mann, Managing Director of HyProMag. “It is exciting times in Birmingham as this expansion continues through 2026, allowing us to also assist the development of our sister plants in Pforzheim, Germany and Dallas Fort-Worth, USA. It was a pleasure to participate with Siemens at Hannover Messe 26 earlier in the week, and we look forward to working closely with the Siemens team as we advance our collaboration.”
On April 21at Hannover Messe, a SIMOTICS servomotor rotor was presented which had been manufactured by Siemens using recycled NdFeB magnets produced by HyProMag. The servomotors are utiliszd in a wide range of applications, including in robotics, tooling machines, and packing machines, where high dynamic performance, precise positioning, and speed control are essential.
Left: Nick Mann, Managing Director of HyProMag (left) speaks at Hannover Messe 26 alongside Cedric Bardenhagen, Sustainability Manager, Motion Control, Siemens (centre) and Tobias Grimm, Sustainability Expert, Motion Control, Siemens (right) during the presentation of the SIMOTICS servomotor rotor. At right are two Siemens SIMOTICS servomotor rotors, one of which was produced with the recycled NdFeB magnets manufactured by HyProMag.
Product Development
HyProMag’s product suite of short-loop recycled magnets continues to attract strong interest. Magnet samples have been provided to over 20 potential customers, with magnet qualification processes and offtake discussions expected to further accelerate in coming months. In 2026, magnets produced by HyProMag have been supplied for qualification in motors, medical devices and audio products.
HyProMag continues to work closely with potential customers on prototyping and the validation of magnets, with 200 pieces released from HyProMag’s machining partner this month. Development work with a coating supplier of both blue zinc, and nickel-copper-nickel coating processes, is now approaching completion. Finished magnets have been produced from NdFeB sintered blocks, with two examples shown below.
Left: Finished magnets for prototype demonstration in medical devices. Right: Finished ring-shaped magnets in both blue zinc and Ni-Cu-Ni coatings.
NdFeB Grade Range Development
Given high customer demand for increased coercivity grades, particularly for automotive applications, HyProMag is responding by accelerating the timeline for incorporation of grain boundary diffusion and the blending of virgin material. Development of these capabilities aligns with future commercialization opportunities and the wider HyProMag group roadmap.
Based in Vancouver, Canada, Mkango’s corporate strategy is to become a market leader in the production of recycled rare earth magnets, alloys and oxides, and to develop new sustainable sources of neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium to supply accelerating demand from electric vehicles, wind turbines and other clean energy technologies.
Its holdings include Maginito Limited which owns HyProMag, also the Songwe Hill rare earths mine development in Malawi and the proposed Pulawy rare earths separation plant in Poland, and also 50% of a joint venture to expand the HPMS recycling technology into the U.S.. Both the Songwe and Puławy projects have been selected as Strategic Projects under the European Union Critical Raw Materials Act. For more info, see www.mkango.ca, www.hypromag.com, www.heraeus.com.
