American Resources has received the final green light on a permit for the first commercial-scale rare earth and battery metal isolation and purification facility in the United States.
The producer’s American Rare Earth division is currently constructing the facility in Noblesville, Ind., and plans to use its chromatography process and facilities to eliminate the country’s dependency on China for final critical and rare earth refining.
American Rare Earth previously demonstrated success in its process and ability to process high-value materials at a 99%-plus purity levels.
The initial facility – an additional is planned – has been designed to have two production trains leveraging one process and control center; the first will focus on recycling rare earth permanent magnets to recover, isolate and purify inherent rare earth elements neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr) and dysprosium (Dy) and establish a viable circular life cycle and economy.
The second train will focus on battery metals and refining black mass to recover, isolate and purify inherent cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), lithium (Li) and manganese (Mn) from waste products, such as end-of-life lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles.
The company is also currently planning and developing a larger scale facility, also in Noblesville, just three miles from the first plant.
The second facility’s design plan involves up to 12 commercial production trains for numerous critical and REE feedstocks.
“Having the ability to work with our local representatives to efficiently procure our permits is key and helps us meet our overall goals,” American Resources CEO Mark Jensen said.
“Additionally, our ability to efficiently navigate the permitting process highlights our chromatography process and facility’s environmentally safe nature, and enables us to scale our operations quickly, with more flexibility and at a lower cost than any other existing method.”
Source: American Resources