Week of March 18, 2026
Week of March 18, 2026
Adds samarium oxide to growing portfolio of rare earths separated in Malaysia. In another milestone in its push to become the first company outside China to commercially produce a full suite of heavy rare earths, Lynas Rare Earths Ltd. has begun producing samarium oxide at its separation plant in Malaysia. "The addition of samarium oxide means that we can provide an expanded suite of light and heavy rare earths that customers will use to produce high-performance permanent...
Plant will test heavy rare earth separation for planned U.S. scale-up. To advance its ambitions to establish a U.S.-based source of separated heavy rare earths, Aclara Resources Inc. has inaugurated a pilot plant at Virginia Tech that will validate the company's proprietary process for turning mixed rare earth carbonates from its projects in Brazil and Chile into high-purity individual oxides. Developing a rare earths platform aimed at supplying permanent magnet supply...
Action plan advances multinational framework with coordinated pricing and supply chain strategy. The United States and Japan have unveiled a critical minerals action plan that moves beyond bilateral cooperation toward a coordinated, multinational supply chain strategy aimed at countering China's dominance and reshaping how these materials are priced and traded. Central to the plan is the explicit goal of building a broader, plurilateral framework. "The United States and Japan...
Offtake agreement supports U.S., Dutch battery metals hub growth. Expanding a refining platform designed to process battery recycling feedstocks closer to where they are generated, Nth Cycle Inc. has signed a 10-year offtake agreement with global commodities trader Trafigura Group Pte. Ltd. valued at approximately $1.1 billion. Emerging as one of the most critical bottlenecks in the lithium-ion battery supply chain, refining remains heavily concentrated outside the United...
Deal expands Aussie-Japan rare earth partnership into exploration. Extending a rare earths partnership already structured around long-term supply and price stability, Lynas Rare Earths Ltd. and Japan Australia Rare Earths (JARE) B.V. have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on mineral exploration and development aimed at expanding the resource base feeding the global rare earth supply chain. Headquartered in Australia, Lynas operates one of the largest rare...
New agreement reinforces $110/kg NdPr price floor; Lynas' Texas heavy REE plant unlikely. Further solidifying a price floor for rare earths outside China, the Pentagon is restructuring an offtake agreement with Australia-based Lynas Rare Earths Ltd. to include a minimum purchase price of $110 per kilogram for neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide – the magnet metals used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, robotics, and advanced defense technologies. With the updated...
Funding opportunity targets domestic battery materials processing, recycling, and manufacturing. In support of a government-wide effort to strengthen domestic battery supply chains, the U.S. Department of Energy has unveiled a $500 million funding opportunity for projects focused on battery mineral processing, recycling, and manufacturing. This third round of funding through DOE's Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing and Recycling programs is aimed at...
Funds a Lilac Solutions-led direct lithium extraction pilot project at a geothermal power plant in Java. With backing from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, a geothermal power plant in Indonesia is being positioned as a dual source of renewable energy and lithium, as California-based Lilac Solutions Inc. prepares to deploy its ion-exchange direct lithium extraction technology at the Dieng field in Java. The USTDA-funded pilot project will demonstrate Lilac's ability to...
Initial tests highlight promise of water-based leaching solution as end-of-life PV tsunami builds. From rooftop applications to grid-scale power plants, photovoltaic solar panels are essentially high-grade silver ore averaging more than half an ounce of silver per panel. Recent testing has demonstrated that RZOLV Technologies Inc.'s water-based solution can efficiently recover nearly 90% of the silver, pointing to a potentially efficient pathway for recycling a rapidly...
SQM has integrated Liebherr's LiReCon system to remotely operate dozers and other equipment at world's largest iodine mine. Heavy equipment operators at SQM's Nueva Victoria iodine mine in northern Chile will soon be moving out of their loud and jarring cubicle atop 72-metric-ton Liebherr PR 776 G8 dozers and into a safer and more comfortable working climate within the high-tech LiReCon control center at the world's largest supplier of iodine. Short for Liebherr Remote...
Lab-made carbon crystal may surpass natural diamond's hardness. For more than a century, diamond has defined the upper limit of hardness – a benchmark so absolute that materials scientists have long wondered whether anything could surpass it, a question now being tested by researchers at Jilin University in China who report creating a new form of diamond arranged in a different crystal structure that may prove even stronger. Formed from carbon atoms bonded into an...
Q3 2025 update details Candiac expansion, partnerships, funding. Reporting corporate developments alongside its third-quarter financial results, Nano One Materials Corp. outlined progress across its One-Pot lithium iron phosphate cathode platform, including updates on capacity expansion, partnerships, and funding initiatives. As demand for lithium-ion batteries continues to expand across energy storage, transportation, and data infrastructure, the ability to produce cathode...
