USA Rare Earth produces dysprosium oxide at Texas Round Top mine 

Verified by a third-party ISO 17025 certified lab, the company said this demonstrates its ability to extract and process high-purity rare earth oxides from its Texas Round Top deposit. 

The only active rare earths mine in the US is Mountain Pass in California. It is owned by MP Materials, which processes rock it extracts from Mountain Pass into rare earths concentrate that is shipped to China for refining.

The production of dysprosium oxide is significant due to its critical role in advanced technologies that rely on the unique properties of heavy rare earth elements, USA Rare Earth said. Dysprosium is a key component in technologies such as semiconductors, as well as in many NdFeB rare earth magnets. 

NdFeB magnets are essential for high-efficiency electric vehicle motors, wind turbine generators, and advanced defense systems, including missile guidance and control systems, among other technologies.

 The $14 billion-a-year rare earth magnet market is more than 60% controlled by China.

This month, USA Rare Earth produced the first batch of sintered permanent rare earth magnets at its new plant under development in Stillwater, Oklahoma.  

“In addition to dysprosium oxide, our team has now produced a variety of rare earth elements, including terbium and the light rare earth element neodymium, among others,” CEO Joshua Ballard said in a news release. 

We’re excited about the progress we’ve made in bringing this processing capability back home to the United States.”