Aclara Completes Basic Design of US$494 Million Rare Earth Separation Plant in the United States

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 13, rare earth development company Aclara Resources announced that the basic engineering design for its Dynamo heavy rare earth separation plant in Louisiana, USA, has been completed, with Hatch responsible for the engineering design work. The latest construction investment estimate for the project is approximately US$494 million, up from US$277 million in the previous conceptual design phase. The plant will process mixed rare earth carbonate from ion adsorption clay projects in Brazil and Chile to produce high-purity rare earth oxides including dysprosium, terbium, yttrium, gadolinium, samarium, and neodymium-praseodymium. Site preparation is planned to begin in the first quarter of 2027, with construction completion targeted for the second half of 2028.

Following the completion of the basic engineering design, the project's separation process scope has been further expanded, with the addition of independent separation circuits for three rare earth elements—yttrium, gadolinium, and samarium—and the number of mixer-settlers increased from 340 to 478. The expansion plan also increases dysprosium and terbium separation capacity by approximately 42% and adds feedstock processing capacity from the Penco project in Chile. Based on the long-term average feed basis after both upstream projects—Carina in Brazil and Penco in Chile—reach full production, the Dynamo plant is expected to produce approximately 200 tonnes of dysprosium oxide, 35 tonnes of terbium oxide, 1,350 tonnes of yttrium oxide, 180 tonnes of gadolinium oxide, 190 tonnes of samarium oxide, and 1,300 tonnes of neodymium-praseodymium oxide per year.

The basic engineering design completed by Hatch has produced an AACE International Class 3 construction cost estimate. Supplier quotations have been obtained for all major equipment packages, of which approximately 86% of equipment packages and all electrical equipment packages are planned to be procured in the United States. Due to the addition of new separation circuits, expanded feedstock processing scope, and increased engineering design maturity, the project construction investment estimate has been adjusted accordingly. Based on the latest process calculations, the average operating cost per kilogram of separated rare earth oxide produced at the plant is expected to be US$26, a decrease of approximately 32% from US$38 in the conceptual design phase. This cost excludes the cost of mixed rare earth carbonate feedstock.

The project adopts a solvent extraction separation process, primarily processing Aclara's independently developed high-purity mixed rare earth carbonate (SPREC). The company's demonstration facility at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center is validating the process parameters required for the commercial plant. To date, neodymium-praseodymium oxide meeting target specifications has been produced, and production validation for dysprosium and terbium oxides is planned for the fourth quarter of 2026. The company is also collaborating with Argonne National Laboratory to develop an artificial intelligence digital twin system, using operational data from the demonstration facility for separation process simulation and process optimization.