Belfast-based Ionic Technologies is partnering with the UK's Less Common Metals (LCM), Ford Technologies and the British Geological Survey (BGS) to create a UK rare earth supply chain from magnet recycling, after receiving fresh funding from the government to establish a commercial plant in Northern Ireland.
Ionic is receiving an additional £1mn ($1.25mn) in funding from the government's circular critical materials supply chain (Climates) programme, which will go toward a feasibility study into the construction and supply side dynamics of a magnet rare earth recycling plant in the UK, done in collaboration with the British Geological Survey.
Once constructed and operational, the plant is intended to produce high-purity, separated and traceable rare earths from end-of-life magnets and swarf. These will be supplied to LCM for alloy production to then be converted into neodymium-ferro-boron (NdFeB) magnets, which will eventually be used by automaker Ford in electric vehicle (EV) production. A sub-contract magnet producer will be used to manufacture multiple magnet types that meet Ford's specifications.
Most of Ford's EU production will come from its UK-based Halewood facility, which plans to be producing 0.5mn units/yr by 2026. This would require over 600 t/yr of magnet raw material, the companies estimate. Ford will test and analyse the performance of the magnets supplied via its Ionic/LCM collaboration, to prove their efficacy. Each stage of the process from magnet recycling to EV testing will generate fresh waste (magnets and swarf) and of course the magnets used in Ford's EV motors — all of which could eventually be recycled by Ionic, resulting in a circular rare earth supply chain within the UK.
In April, Ionic commissioned its magnet recycling demonstration plant, which has been producing rare earth oxides with a purity of 99.5pc or higher, at a rate of 10 t/yr. The company is using a hydrometallurgical process to extract rare earth elements (REE) from the magnets, separate them out individually — in particular neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium — and then refine them to individual oxides.
The partnership between Ionic, LCM, Ford and the BGS will only go a small way toward reducing Europe's reliance on imports of rare earth materials and magnets from China, but it underscores how momentum and political support is gradually building, as the green energy transition forces closer scrutiny of critical mineral supply chains and their vulnerabilities.
The project will also involve an advanced study of the UK's REE ecosystem, expanding on the existing BGS rare earths model and also pulling in new data on wind turbines, EVs and other vehicles.
"We are very pleased to be able to work alongside Ionic Technologies to elevate the knowledge base of the UK stocks and flows of rare earths in permanent magnets. This will derive critical knowledge that enables new investment and business opportunities to develop, as well as fast-track the establishment of a circular economy of rare earths in the UK," BGS senior mineral commodity geologist Dr Evi Petavratzi said.
