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of Defense awards rare earth recycler $4.22 million for domestic terbium","department-of-defense-awards-rare-earth-recycler-4-22-million-for-domestic-terbium","article/department-of-defense-awards-rare-earth-recycler-4-22-million-for-domestic-terbium",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":569,"content":579,"excerpt":681,"featured":51,"reporter":682,"_editable":686,"component":687,"seo_title":553,"categories":688,"visibility":703,"author_company":49,"featured_image":704,"seo_description":681,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":709,"formattedArticleDate":710},"6866fb25-54b8-41de-aea4-e83ec8fe5b9a","2024-09-12 00:00",[560,563,566],{"slug":561,"name":562},"china","China",{"slug":564,"name":565},"department-of-defense","Department of Defense",{"slug":567,"name":568},"usa","USA",[570],{"slug":571,"name":572,"content":573},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":574,"image":575,"bio":577,"linkedin":578},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":576},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":580,"content":581},"doc",[582,589,594,599,604,619,624,631,636,641,646,651,656,661,666,671,676],{"type":583,"attrs":584,"content":585},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[586],{"text":587,"type":588},"The US Department of Defense has awarded $4.22 million to heavy rare earths recycler Rare Earths Salts in a bid to develop domestic sources of the sought-after element terbium. ","text",{"type":583,"attrs":590,"content":591},{"textAlign":49},[592],{"text":593,"type":588},"The award should help Nebraska-based Rare Earths Salts develop and expand its production of terbium oxide from used fluorescent light bulbs, an unconventional route that the company says is cost-competitive with dominant solvent-based methods.",{"type":583,"attrs":595,"content":596},{"textAlign":49},[597],{"text":598,"type":588},"“Separating Terbium is usually an expensive process. It requires close to 200 iterations of solvent extraction to obtain and the amount present in an ore is quite limited,” commented Neha Mukerjee, Benchmark analyst. ",{"type":583,"attrs":600,"content":601},{"textAlign":49},[602],{"text":603,"type":588},"Western countries are highly vulnerable to supply shocks for heavy rare earths such as terbium. This is because iconic clay mines, which contain high concentrations of these elements, cluster in Asia under Chinese ownership. ",{"type":583,"attrs":605,"content":606},{"textAlign":49},[607,609,617],{"text":608,"type":588},"Chinese companies are set to produce 94% of global terbium oxide supply in 2030, according to ",{"text":610,"type":588,"marks":611},"Benchmark’s Rare Earth Forecast",[612],{"type":613,"attrs":614},"link",{"href":615,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":616},"https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/rare-earths/portal/","url",{"text":618,"type":588},". ",{"type":583,"attrs":620,"content":621},{"textAlign":49},[622],{"text":623,"type":588},"There are currently no late-state ionic clay projects in the US, Europe, or Australia, leaving the US heavily dependent on a rival power for an element with extensive military applications. ",{"type":625,"attrs":626,"content":628},"heading",{"level":627,"textAlign":49},4,[629],{"text":630,"type":588},"What is terbium and what does it do? ",{"type":583,"attrs":632,"content":633},{"textAlign":49},[634],{"text":635,"type":588},"Terbium belongs to a group of nine rare earth elements known as the heavy rare earths. This group of elements have different properties and end use applications to the light rare earths such as praseodymium and neodymium.",{"type":583,"attrs":637,"content":638},{"textAlign":49},[639],{"text":640,"type":588},"Terbium is used to prevent rare earth permanent magnets from demagnetising under higher temperatures. It is one of the rare earths used in magnets found in missiles, submarines, and aircraft. Additionally, they are used in video displays, night vision goggles, and lasers.",{"type":625,"attrs":642,"content":643},{"level":627,"textAlign":49},[644],{"text":645,"type":588},"Why is the award important? ",{"type":583,"attrs":647,"content":648},{"textAlign":49},[649],{"text":650,"type":588},"The fact that the DoD is willing to help a startup scale an unconventional production method shows how keen the US defence establishment is to develop ex-China sources of terbium. ",{"type":583,"attrs":652,"content":653},{"textAlign":49},[654],{"text":655,"type":588},"The award, funded through the Defense Production Act Investment (DPAI) office, is meant to support the strengthening of the US’ defence industrial base, as laid out in the Defense Department’s National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS) of 2024.",{"type":583,"attrs":657,"content":658},{"textAlign":49},[659],{"text":660,"type":588},"It also highlights the difficulties faced by Western countries wanting to expand their ex-China terbium supply through more standard routes. ",{"type":583,"attrs":662,"content":663},{"textAlign":49},[664],{"text":665,"type":588},"China is set to control around 95% of terbium ore supply in 2030, with its miners operating assets both domestically and in neighbouring Myanmar.",{"type":583,"attrs":667,"content":668},{"textAlign":49},[669],{"text":670,"type":588},"Further, the level of solvent use in conventional heavy rare earths separation raises sustainability concerns. ",{"type":583,"attrs":672,"content":673},{"textAlign":49},[674],{"text":675,"type":588},"The narrow geological distribution of heavy rare earth-rich deposits as well as the high financial and environmental costs involved in dominant processing methods makes recycling one of the few ways the US could potentially produce terbium oxide independently of Chinese supply chains, at least in the short term. ",{"type":583,"attrs":677,"content":678},{"textAlign":49},[679],{"text":680,"type":588},"Rare Earth Salts belongs to an emerging crop of startups vying to meet growing demand for ex-China material via alternative production routes that address these sourcing issues.","The US Department of Defense has awarded $4.22 million to heavy rare earths recycler Rare Earths Salts in a bid to develop domestic sources of the sought-after element terbium. The award should help Nebraska-based Rare Earths Salts develop and expand its production of terbium oxide from used fluorescent light bulbs, an unconventional route that the […]",[683],{"slug":571,"name":572,"content":684},{"job_title":574,"image":685,"bio":577,"linkedin":578},{"filename":576},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"6866fb25-54b8-41de-aea4-e83ec8fe5b9a\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[689,692,695,697,700],{"slug":690,"name":691},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":693,"name":694},"geopolitics","Geopolitics",{"slug":696,"name":420},"rare-earths",{"slug":698,"name":699},"recycling","Recycling",{"slug":701,"name":702},"sustainability","Sustainability","private",{"id":49,"alt":705,"name":705,"focus":705,"title":705,"source":705,"filename":706,"copyright":705,"fieldtype":707,"meta_data":708,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/243fce3ac9/bm-terbium-powder.jpg","asset",{"alt":705,"title":705,"source":705,"copyright":705},"Sep 12, 2024","12th September 2024",[],[],1792773897387]