The News
USA Rare Earth is “scouring the globe” for potential acquisitions across the value chain for critical minerals, from mining and processing to the manufacturing of magnets, the mining company’s CEO Barbara Humpton said at Semafor World Economy.
As an example of the firm’s global ambitions, she cited last week’s deal to take an equity stake in Carester, a France-based processor of rare earths, alongside French Investor Infravia. “In very short order we’ll have a processing line in Europe that can help serve Europe as well as Asia,” Humpton said in Washington, DC on Monday.
“We’re focused on finding the absolute best assets we can find, whether they’re in the United States or whether they’re outside of the United States,” she said.
She said USA Rare Earth would soon begin metal making at its facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma, the first vertically integrated rare-earth metal and magnet manufacturing plant in the Americas.
Know More
The Trump administration in January announced plans for a $1.6 billion investment in USA Rare Earth to support a mine in Texas and the facility in Oklahoma.
The investment is part of Washington’s drive to reduce dependence on imports from China, which dominates mining and processing of rare earths.
The administration has acquired stakes in several domestic producers and has outlined plans to build a critical mineral reserve.