en.Wedoany.com Reported - ReElement Technologies has formed a joint venture with South Korea's POSCO Group, planning to invest $200 million to build a rare earth material refining facility in the United States with an annual processing capacity of 6,000 tons, aiming to reduce U.S. dependence on China's rare earth supply chain.
The joint venture will be majority-owned and operated by POSCO, while ReElement will provide core rare earth separation and purification technology—a chromatography process capable of simultaneously producing high-purity oxides of both light and heavy rare earth elements. ReElement CEO Mark Jensen stated that the initiative aims to create "a secure, non-China supply chain that supports national security, clean energy, and next-generation advanced technologies."
The project adopts an end-to-end design, planning to transport raw materials from Southeast Asia to the U.S. refining center, then connect to a permanent magnet manufacturing complex, forming a complete chain from raw materials to finished products. This means the U.S. will not only localize rare earth refining capacity but also produce high-performance permanent magnets for electric vehicle motors, robotics, wind turbines, artificial intelligence data centers, and defense systems, particularly those requiring heavy rare earth elements such as dysprosium and terbium.
Development will proceed in phases: initial capacity of 3,000 tons per year, later expanding to 6,000 tons. Trial production is targeted for the end of 2027, with full commercial output expected by 2028. A POSCO executive described the collaboration as "a starting point for establishing a critical mineral value chain in the U.S. connecting raw materials to final products."
The joint venture builds on a previously signed offtake agreement between the two companies and is part of a broader industrial cooperation plan between the U.S. and South Korea to diversify global supply chains. This initiative, known as the "Boiler Maker Project," was initially proposed in a memorandum of understanding last year and has now entered full implementation. POSCO International CEO Lee Kye-in stated that the joint venture is not just about building a refinery but is the starting point for constructing a critical mineral value chain in the U.S.
If the collaboration succeeds, ReElement and POSCO will not only help strengthen the U.S. industrial base but also secure the technologies that will define the next century.
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