REEVALUATE: Rare Earth Elements recoVery from industriAL scrap prodUced during grAin boundary diffusion of permanenT magnEts.

Less Common Metals (LCM) Ltd, UK, is leading an initiative called "Industrial Scrap-to-Magnet" in collaboration with Ionic Technology and Vacuumschmelze (VAC) through the REEVALUATE project. The initiative aims to develop high-quality NdFeB magnets using 100% recycled heavy and light rare earth elements (REEs) with full traceability. This project addresses the anticipated surge in demand for REEs by 2040 due to the increasing adoption of clean energy technologies, electric vehicles, and electronic devices.

The project will focus on reclaiming pre-consumer industrial scrap from magnet manufacturing and material processing stages, which account for 36% of valuable RE content. VAC will provide pre-consumer magnet scrap, while Ionic Technologies will use patented technology to produce high purity RE oxides from the scrap at their Demonstration Plant. LCM, the only industry in the Western world producing RE metals and alloys for permanent magnet production companies, will then use unique technologies to reduce the oxides to RE metals/alloys and supply them back to VAC at the required specification for magnet production. In addition to this, the byproduct scrap formed during material processing at LCM will be further processed at Ionic and will continue in the loop. The successful outcome of the REEVALUATE project will establish a sustainable, circular supply chain for REEs in the UK, supporting the magnet industry and the country's NetZero ambitions.