by Audrey Streb
The Daily Caller
Two rare earth companies plan to pour $100 million into what they say will be the first magnet recycling plant of its kind in the U.S. as Washington looks to loosen China’s grip on the critical minerals supply chain.
US Strategic Metals (USSM) and Australian company Ionic Rare Earths signed a memorandum of understanding in November to develop rare earth magnet recycling facilities at USSM’s 1,800-acre processing site near Fredericktown, Missouri. USSM now plans to contribute $95 million toward construction, while another $5 million in equity contributions would be split between the
“Domestic recycling alone cannot break our dependence upon China for rare earth magnets. It may reduce our dependence over time, but we will need to dramatically ramp up domestic production and processing of rare earth minerals along with magnet production,” Steve Milloy, Senior Energy & Environment Legal Institute fellow, told the DCNF…
“Even if we started today on these efforts, we would still be substantially dependent on Communist China for the next 5-10 years. China may very well not allow us that much time given its agenda, its rare earth and battery dominance, and our inertia and ineptitude at breaking supply chain dependence on China,” Milloy said.
