US Department of Defense

Materials/Manufacturing

Vulcan Elements Opens Pilot Plant for Producing Rare Earth Magnets; Consarc Strip-Casting Furnace Installed 

August 5, 2025 Editorial Staff Comments Off on Vulcan Elements Opens Pilot Plant for Producing Rare Earth Magnets; Consarc Strip-Casting Furnace Installed 

Bolstered by a $1.2 million award from the U.S. Department of Defense and now with the commissioning of a new strip casting furnace from Consarc, Vulcan Elements is building up operations at its new pilot magnet manufacturing plant in North Carolina. A key objective is to develop fresh alternatives for a secure, domestic supply chain for magnets used in critical Air Force systems. […]

Materials/Manufacturing

MP Materials Announces Public-Private Partnership with the Department of Defense to Accelerate U.S. Rare Earth Magnet Independence

July 10, 2025 Editorial Staff Comments Off on MP Materials Announces Public-Private Partnership with the Department of Defense to Accelerate U.S. Rare Earth Magnet Independence

MP Materials Corp. has announced it has entered into a transformational public-private partnership with the United States Department of Defense to dramatically accelerate the build-out of an end-to-end U.S. rare earth magnet supply chain and reduce foreign dependency. […]

Materials/Manufacturing

Mistrial Declared in Federal Case Against Quadrant Magnetics 

April 29, 2025 Editorial Staff Comments Off on Mistrial Declared in Federal Case Against Quadrant Magnetics 

More than two years after the federal government charged Quadrant Magnetics related to sharing product design information with affiliate contacts in China, a mistrial has been declared at the U.S. District Court in Louisville, Kentucky in the government’s case against the company. According to a report in the Louisville Courier Journal on March 19, it’s the latest twist in the high-profile case centered around confidential U.S. military data allegedly sent to China by company officials. The case is now in limbo, prosecutors could retry it, with a jury trial tentatively set to begin in late May.   […]

Materials/Manufacturing

Cyclic Materials Opens Magnet Recycling Plant, Signs Supply Deals with Solvay & Vacuumschmelze 

July 31, 2024 Editorial Staff Comments Off on Cyclic Materials Opens Magnet Recycling Plant, Signs Supply Deals with Solvay & Vacuumschmelze 

Startup recycler Cyclic Materials is stepping out to commercial operation with the opening of its first-phase plant in Canada and two new supply chain deals – one with Solvay in Brussels and another with Vacuumschmelze of Germany who has a new magnet plant now under construction in the USA.

In early June, the Toronto-based company opened its Hub100 plant in Kingston, Ontario. The plant is the first scaled version of Cyclic’s hydrometallurgical technology, REEPure, and is positioned to demonstrate the feasibility of the technology at a commercial scale. The plant has a design capacity to recycle 100 tons of magnetic material per year, producing recycled mixed rare earth oxides (rMREO) that can be reused in the rare earth magnet supply chain, as well as nickel and cobalt hydroxides. […]

Materials/Manufacturing

Now Investor-Owned, VAC to Build Big Magnet Factory in South Carolina 

January 4, 2024 Editorial Staff Comments Off on Now Investor-Owned, VAC to Build Big Magnet Factory in South Carolina 

Vacuumschmelze, one of the world’s leading producers of magnetic materials and products has announced it will build a major new magnet factory in South Carolina that will supply domestically produced magnets in the USA. The move comes shortly after the company, based in Hanau, Germany, was acquired by investment group Ara Partners in October.  […]

Materials/Manufacturing

DoD Strengthens Support for Lynas U.S. Facility

August 25, 2023 Editorial Staff Comments Off on DoD Strengthens Support for Lynas U.S. Facility

Lynas Rare Earths Ltd has announced that wholly owned subsidiary Lynas USA LLC has signed a follow on contract with the United States (U.S.) Department of Defense (DoD) for the construction of the Heavy Rare Earths component of the Lynas U.S. Rare Earths Processing Facility in Texas. […]