Transcription of The Stock Network Interview with Ionic Rare Earths (ASX:IXR), Managing Director, Tim Harrison
Lel Smits: Ionic Rare Earths is positioning itself at the centre of the global push for secure and sustainable rare earth supply chains through its patented magnet recycling and refining technology. The company is focused on recovering and refining critical magnet rare earths used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, defence systems and advanced manufacturing. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Ionic Technologies, the company is developing a commercial-scale rare earth recycling facility in Belfast, while expanding partnerships across the US and Europe to establish a traceable ex-China supply chain for critical materials.
Ionic Rare Earths Managing Director Tim Harrison joins me today to discuss the company’s technology, recent US defence related agreements and the growing strategic importance of rare earth recycling. Tim, welcome to the Stock Network.
Tim Harrison: Thanks, Lel. Good to be here.
Lel Smits: Now, rare earth supply chains remain heavily concentrated in China. How is Ionic Rare Earths helping to establish a secure, also independent supply chain for critical magnet rare earths across Western markets?
Tim Harrison: Look, Lel, we’re working with a range of different partners in the value chain right now.
So across metals, alloys and magnets, the manufacturers and value chain partners in those areas, we’re working with them to process their waste materials back into new oxides that can help facilitate the production of new magnets. We’re also working with customers who have inventories of end-of-life magnets, whether that be OEMs in the auto space or companies in high-end electronics, for example, working also with large industrial groups that have inventories of magnets that they’ve got access to through maybe other things that they’re recycling as well. So we’re starting to piece together all of those partners in these hubs of recycling.
And obviously, the UK opportunity we’re extremely advanced in now. We’ve done a number of programs there with partners across the value chain. We’re now looking to accelerate the rollout of that in the US.
We’ve got something we’re building down in Brazil as well. So, yeah, things are pretty exciting at the moment.
Lel Smits: And looking closer, Tim, at that commercialisation, you’ve got patented recycling and refining technology that’s demonstrated the ability to produce magnet rare earth oxides at high purity, also while significantly reducing emissions.
What are your priorities now as you’re moving towards really that commercial scale operation?
Tim Harrison: Yeah, so the technology came out at Queen’s University, Belfast, and we’ve been working in the UK with the support of the UK government to commercialise in the UK. So building now the capital stack for the first commercial plant in Belfast. So we’re hopefully going to have all of the capital spread away in the next three months, which will enable us to go to an investment decision and start construction in 2027.
That’s obviously the most visible public activity that the company’s got going on right now. But in addition to that, now looking at accelerating the rollout of that technology into the US, which is hugely exciting for the business. Yes, let’s take a closer look at that US defence and advanced manufacturing opportunity.
Lel Smits: You recently signed some deals with Advanced Magnet Lab in the US, and that was to supply rare earth oxides for permanent magnets used in defence applications. How significant really is this partnership? Also, what does it say to you about the demand here?
Tim Harrison: Look, I think, again, it’s another step for the company in the validation of our materials. You know, last month we had some positive news around our recycled oxides now being validated in the supply chain of Ford.
We’re now also selling oxides into the US defence complex. And, you know, working with Advanced Magnet Lab on producing magnets that will go into validation programs in the defence sector is a big step for the company. But it’s the first of what we expect is going to be many partnerships that we have in the US with companies we’re working with today.
And hopefully we’re in a position to talk about those relationships very shortly. Great. And you did mention that recycling and a key part of your strategy is creating a circular economy for rare earths by recycling magnet waste and also end of life materials.
Lel Smits: Can you really perhaps give us some more light on how this model differentiates ionic rare earths from perhaps traditional mining focused rare earth companies?
Tim Harrison: Yeah, look, I think what’s unfolding right now in the US is staggering, right? The amount of investment that’s being deployed across the value chain. So, you know, there was a new magnet plant announced at the start of the month. So USA Rare Earths have announced that they’re also going to be building a facility in South Carolina.
And that takes the total investment across the rare earth supply chain mine to magnet in the US of approximately $14 billion, right? Catalyzed with, you know, $3.5 billion of US government investment. And we’re now seeing approximately somewhere in the order of sort of pushing up towards $7 billion worth of investment across magnet manufacturing in the US across eight facilities that have produced more than 50,000 tons of NDFEB magnets. Now, what I hope investors are starting to understand here is that as you make a magnet, if you start out with 100 units of rare earth oxides, those 100 units of rare earth oxides then get turned into a metal and the metals then get blended to make the alloys.
The alloys then go to make a block magnet and the magnet then gets cut and shaped to the final finished magnet. Now, if you start out with 100 units here of separated rare earth oxides, by the time the finished magnet goes out the front door and off to the OEM, you’re probably looking at 60 to 75 of those units now going out as finished products, which means that you’ve got quite a big recirculating load of waste streams, you know, rare earth strategic material that’s now locked up in waste streams. And what we do is we take not only the end of life magnets, but importantly this material called SWARF and we recycle that back into the supply chain.
And if we think about that total investment across the value chain in the US, creating 50 plus thousand tons of NDFEB magnets, that’s going to generate in excess of 20,000 tons per annum of SWARF. And if we think about that in isolation relative to what we’re looking to do in the UK, it represents 17 Belfasts. And so we see a huge appetite now to roll out our technology in close proximity and collaboration with magnet makers.
And, you know, we’ve got a lot of discussions happening right now, which I think goes as a testament to how advanced our technology is and our ability to work with key relationships and partners across the value chain in the US.
Lel Smits: Tim, you have outlined very well the appetite for your technology. So when it comes to the outlook and expansion for the company, as governments now are increasingly prioritising critical mineral security, where do you see the biggest opportunities for ionic rare earths over the next three to five years?
Tim Harrison: Look, certainly with the commercialisation of the technology in the UK, that’s a key step for the company.
The UK, as a supportive environment, supportive government, and as a consumer of rare earth oxides, is projected to consume something like 12% of global NDFEB magnets by the end of this decade. So a huge consumer of permanent magnets. And as such, the UK government wants to build a value chain there.
So commercialising our technology there is a key enabler for that value chain to emerge in the UK. But then if we think about the execution of the UK, which we anticipate will be in production in the first half of 2028, we set our sights now on significant rollout in the US. And by the end of the decade, we anticipate multiple plants operating recycling oxides in that market.
And then finally, a really exciting opportunity for the company is down in Brazil with our Viridian joint venture, where we’re working with another ASX-listed company, Viridis Mining and Minerals, and looking to work with them on establishing both recycling, but also the extension of our technology into rare earth refining. And whilst we build the supply chain on the back of recycling and use that recycled material to start to prime the pump and get the material moving through the value chain, the opportunity then to bring significant inventory of primary separated rare earth oxide helps that industry grow. And ultimately, as it grows, there’s more material for us to recycle.
So, you know, it’s a very exciting phase for the business now as we sort of approach the end of the decade.
Lel Smits: Tim, I appreciate the update from Ionic Rare Earths. Look forward to following the developments.
Tim Harrison: Thanks, Lel.
Ends