Arafura Rare Earths Inks Deal with Traxys to Supply US Critical Minerals for Defense and Tech Sectors

[SMM Rare Earth News] USA Rare Earths (USAR) announced that its hydrometallurgical demonstration facility in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, has officially begun operations. The facility targets production of its first separated oxides in Q3 2026, at which point it will become one of the few Western enterprises capable of commercially supplying strategic heavy rare earth oxides such as dysprosium, terbium, and yttrium. The plant features a fully automated design and is equipped with multi-stage solvent extraction circuits and a real-time monitoring system. Its demonstration project will validate the processing flows for three raw materials in phases and in parallel: ore from the Round Top project in Texas, third-party mixed rare earth carbonates (including feedstock from Serra Verde), and the recycling of NdFeB magnet grinding scrap. This start-up marks a key step for USAR in building a complete rare earth value chain encompassing mining, processing, metals, and magnet manufacturing.

[SMM Rare Earth Express] Affected by the sharp rise in raw material prices today, some magnetic material factories suspended quotations, waiting for prices to stabilize before quoting based on market conditions. As of 12 p.m. today, SMM Pr-Nd oxide closed at 720,000-725,000 yuan/mt, up 20,000 yuan/mt from yesterday. SMM Pr-Nd alloy closed at 875,000-885,000 yuan/mt, up 27,500 yuan/mt from yesterday. The prices of terbium and dysprosium were also raised, with the increase ranging from 10 to 40 yuan/kg.