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Economy | |
New Magnet Facility Breaks Ground In Texas To Offset Supply Chain Issues, Dependence On China | |
2022-04-30 | |
MP Materials broke ground on its first rare earth metal, alloy and magnet manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday. It the first-of-its kind facility to be built in Texas, and in the U.S. "Bringing magnetics capabilities home is transformational for MP Materials and America’s supply chains," James Litinsky, chairman and CEO of MP Materials, said. His company "is leading the restoration of the full supply chain and the revitalization of the American manufacturing spirit in our sector." MP Materials is the largest producer of rare earth materials in the Western Hemisphere. It owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and Processing Facility in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, the only active and scaled rare earth production site in North America. The majority of mining for rare earth materials and 92% of global magnet production occurs in China, the U.S. Department of Energy reports. Separated rare earth elements are critical components necessary to produce the most powerful and efficient magnets used in electric vehicles, drones, defense systems, wind turbines and other advanced technologies. MP Materials is developing U.S. metal, alloy and magnet manufacturing capacity to build them domestically as an alternative to U.S. dependence on China and other countries, it announced in a statement. The company’s invested $700 million to fully restore the U.S. rare earth magnetics supply chain in two years, it says, with the new Fort Worth facility playing a major role. The new facility, being built in Hillwood’s 27,000-acre, mixed-use development, will create an estimated 150 high-skilled jobs and 1,300 indirect jobs once operational in 2023. Hitting the ground running: Under a definitive and binding supply agreement announced last December, MP Materials will supply U.S.-sourced and manufactured rare earth materials, alloy, and finished magnets to General Motors for it to use to build a range of electric vehicles. The new Fort Worth facility will be able to produce approximately 1,000 tonnes of neodymium-iron-boron magnets a year. This represents only 1% of the world’s supply but it’s enough to support the production of approximately 500,000 EV traction motors, with room to scale, MP Materials says.Last July, U.S. Defense Department representatives visited the Mountain Pass production facility to determine how MP Materials could develop domestic-sourced critical minerals for defense and commercial manufacturing. By February, the Defense Department awarded the company $35 million to refine and separate heavy rare earth elements at its California facility. The refined feedstock from Mountain Pass will be transformed into finished products in Texas in order to deliver an American-based end-to-end supply chain. Starting in California with mining, the refining and production of metal, alloy, and magnet manufacturing. Recycling would be completed in Texas, MP Materials said. Since February, the Department of Defense has spent more than $100 million on projects to expand domestic rare earth element processing capabilities and develop rare earth supply chain resiliency, it says. Related: Rare earth metal: 2021-12-22 When you buy the "big guy": Taliban welcomes China to mine in Afghanistan: Chinese State Media Rare earth metal: 2021-11-07 Learjet Liberals Against Gasoline and Goshawks in Glasglow Rare earth metal: 2020-05-11 New Purdue technologies to extract, purify critical rare earth metals could be a ‘game changer' to advance, protect vital electronics | |
Posted by:trailing wife |
#9 Wonder what the environmental impact study shows. Oh, it was waived? |
Posted by: Skidmark 2022-04-30 16:47 |
#8 Just don't reverse the polarity by going woke and hiring too many Trans... Monopole magnets are magnets too, man. |
Posted by: SteveS 2022-04-30 09:11 |
#7 Don't worry CF, the FEDS will step in and shut this down before they can do any hiring. |
Posted by: Chris 2022-04-30 08:40 |
#6 Just don't reverse the polarity by going woke and hiring too many Trans... |
Posted by: CrazyFool 2022-04-30 08:20 |
#5 Hopefully they can attract a lot of business. |
Posted by: DarthVader 2022-04-30 08:07 |
#4 Remains a mystery, no ? |
Posted by: Besoeker 2022-04-30 05:54 |
#3 ....Benjamins are still printed at the Treasury. "If I had a dollar from every women who didn't find me attractive, I'd eventually be attractive." |
Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-04-30 05:47 |
#2 Do they manufacture chick magnets? |
Posted by: Classer 2022-04-30 00:18 |
#1 Maybe it can also supply Elon's Tesla factory in Austin. I'm sure it's attracting all sorts of interest. |
Posted by: CrazyFool 2022-04-30 00:07 |