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Australia’s Lynas secures $120 million Pentagon contract for U.S. rare earths facility -Breaking

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© Reuters. In this illustration, taken on November 19, 2021, a small toy figurine and a mineral imitation can be seen behind the Lynas Rare Earths logo. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

(Reuters) – Lynas Rare Earths, Australia announced Tuesday that it had signed a $120m follow-on contract to the U.S. Department of Defense for a commercial heavy-rare earths separation plant in Texas.

Lynas’ U.S. subsidiary was awarded the contract. This follows a Phase 1 funding request for heavy rare earth separation facilities, announced July 2020.

According to the company, the project for which initial financing was provided by the Pentagon is set to proceed within the existing Texas Gulf Coast industrial area and will be fully operational in 2025.

Lynas is the only world-wide processor of rare earths other than China. It said that it plans to combine its heavy rare rarths separator with the proposed light rare earths seperation facility. This project was half funded by the Defense Production Act Office of the U.S. Department of Defense.

According to the company, feedstock is a mix of rare earths and carbonate, obtained from Lynas Mine in Mt Weld. Lynas will collaborate with potential third-party sources when new feedstocks become possible.

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