Energy transition metals have never been as critical as they are today. Here’s a look at four companies seeking to reduce North America’s reliance on critical minerals from China by building domestic supply chains.
Aclara Resources
Aclara Resources (TSX: ARA; US-OTC: ARAAF) is building the first heavy rare earths separation facility in the United States, with feed to be sourced from its two ionic-clay-hosted deposits in South America.
The company aims to supply more than 75% of the country’s requirements of dysprosium and terbium for electric vehicles by 2028. The $277-million (C$384-million) project in Louisiana is being supported with tax incentives and grants from the state government valued at about $46.4 million.
In addition, the company plans to build a metals and alloy plant next to the separation facility targeting the permanent magnet market. The project is a joint-venture with Chilean iron ore producer CAP S.A. Aclara plans to complete a feasibility study for the $130-million plant in the second half of this year and expects to start operations by mid-2028.
The primary source of feedstock for the Louisiana facilities will come from Aclara’s flagship Carina ionic-clay deposit in Brazil. A pre-feasibility study last November envisioned an open-pit mine of 18 years with annual production of 149 tonnes dysprosium, 25 tonnes terbium and 1,170 tonnes neodymium and praseodymium, along with other strategic heavy rare earth elements samarium (170 tonnes), gadolinium (171 tonnes), lutetium (10 tonnes) and yttrium (1,098 tonnes).
Carina delivers a post-tax net present value (at an 8% discount rate) of $1.07 billion and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 21.8%. Initial capital costs of $548.3 million could be repaid in 4.5 years.
Aclara submitted its Environmental Impact Assessment for Carina last May and plans to complete a feasibility study in the second quarter of 2026. The U.S. International Development Finance Corp. has committed up to $5 million in development funding for that study.
The company forecasts that early works could start by mid-2026, with the beginning of operations targeted for mid-2028.
Aclara is also developing the Penco Module ionic-clay-hosted deposit in Chile, about 6 km from the Port of Concepcion and 500 km south of Santiago. A preliminary economic assessment in 2021 outlined a mine life of 14 years with average annual production of 774 tonnes of rare earth oxides (REOs). Using a base case price of $96 per kg of REO, the study estimated an after-tax NPV (at a 5% discount rate) of $178 million and an IRR of 23%. Initial capital of $119 million could be repaid post-tax in 4.7 years.
Major shareholders are Eduardo Hochschild (37%), Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) (20%) and CAP S.A. (10%).
Aclara Resources has a market cap of about C$488 million.
Electra Battery Materials
Electra Battery Materials (TSXV; Nasdaq: ELBM) is building a battery-grade cobalt sulphate refinery in Temiskaming Shores, Ont.
The facility will be the first of its kind in North America and is expected to produce about 6,500 tonnes of battery-grade cobalt annually. Commissioning is targeted for 2027. Once in production, Electra’s facility is expected to be one of the few major cobalt refineries outside China.
All of Electra’s cobalt feedstock for the refinery is to come from Eurasian Resources Group and Glencore (LSE: GLEN), both of which mine most of their cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world’s top producer of the critical metal.
LG Energy Solution is to purchase 60-80% of Electra’s production (15,000 to 20,000 tonnes of battery grade cobalt over a five-year period) on a tolling basis under a $700 million offtake agreement, Electra said.
The company started early works at the fully permitted brownfield site last June and in November resumed construction following the arrangement of $82 million in project financing, which included $48 million in support from the U.S., and the Canadian and Ontario governments.
In July, Electra began testing cobalt feedstock from the historic Cobalt Camp in Ontario and its Iron Creek cobalt and copper project in Idaho to give the company a clearer picture of how North American cobalt-bearing concentrates can be processed using its hydrometallurgical technology.
Electra also has launched a feasibility level engineering study to build a battery recycling refinery adjacent to the cobalt plant. The study will build on the technology and expertise accumulated during a year-long black mass recycling trial, during which Electra produced technical grade lithium and a nickel and cobalt product from end-of-life lithium batteries.
Currently most black mass produced from battery scrap is shipped to Asia for refining. Black mass, the material remaining once lithium-ion batteries or battery scrap material are shredded and all casings separated, contains elements including lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, copper and graphite, which can be recovered and recycled to make new batteries.
Electra holds the Aki Battery Recycling joint venture with Indigenous economic development firm Three Fires Group to source and process battery waste from manufacturers and produce black mass. The JV aims in the coming years to build a new processing plant in southern Ontario.
In addition to the refinery and recycling facilities in Ontario, the company is evaluating opportunities for cobalt production in Bécancour, Que. near Vale’s (NYSE: VALE) proposed nickel sulphate plant, which Vale has shelved. Electra is also exploring nickel sulphate production potential elsewhere in North America.
Electra Battery Materials has a market cap of about C$122 million.
Euro Manganese
Euro Manganese (TSXV, ASX: EMN) plans to produce high-purity manganese products aimed at the battery market at its Chvaletice project in the Czech Republic by reprocessing historic tailings from a decommissioned open-pit mine that operated between 1951 and 1975.
The Czech government designated the project as strategic last March, followed by the European Union in April. Under the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), Chvaletice gains access to guidance and potential funding from private and public sources including the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The EU designation also ensures that permitting proceeds according to the deadlines under the CRMA.
Chvaletice, 90 km east of Prague, will produce high-purity electrolytic manganese metal (HPEMM) and high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM). The project has a post-tax NPV (at an 8% discount rate) of $1.34 billion and a post-tax IRR of 22%, according to a 2022 feasibility study. Initial capex of $757.3 million could be repaid in four years.
Chvaletice is projected to have a 25-year life producing about 1.2 million tonnes of HPEMM, about two-thirds of which will be converted into HPMSM on-site.
Last June the company signed an offtake term sheet with Integrals Power, a battery technology company based in the U.K. If initial test work is successful, Euro Manganese will supply Integrals Power with HPMSM for an initial seven-year period.
The Czech Republic granted the project a mining lease permit in January 2025 and its environmental licence in March 2024.
Chvaletice hosts 26.9 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 7.33% total manganese and 5.86% soluble manganese.
Euro Manganese has a market cap of about C$23 million.
Ioneer
Ioneer (ASX: INR; Nasdaq: IONR) is developing the Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project, one of very few lithium-boron deposits in the world. It is also the only known lithium deposit that is amenable to vat and heap leaching.
The fully permitted, shovel ready project in Nevada, about halfway between Reno and Las Vegas, hosts the largest undeveloped boron reserve in the world outside Turkey. About 30-40% of the project’s revenue is expected to come from boron and 60-70% from lithium.
The U.S. government added boron to its list of critical minerals in November last year. Boron is essential for military applications, including advanced armour, high-strength magnets and nuclear shielding.
Ioneer received its final federal permit for the project from the Bureau of Land Management in October 2024 and in January last year secured a $996-million loan guarantee through the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office.
The mine will produce three products: lithium carbonate, battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate (starting in its third year) and boric acid. The mine plan envisions extracting and processing 3.2 million tonnes of ore per year over an 82-year life.
The company completed leach optimization work and a new mine plan at the end of October, improving the project’s economics in the first 25 years.
By cutting the leach time to one and a half days, Ioneer says it can reduce acid consumption per tonne of ore processed and generate a 13% increase in the amount of ore processed annually to 3.4 million tonnes from 3 million tonnes using the available surplus acid. The increased lithium production means the project will produce about 9,500 tonnes per year of lithium carbonate/hydroxide that is not committed under existing off-take agreements.
The study envisioned annual average production in the first 25 years of 24,500 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent, 27,800 tonnes of lithium hydroxide (starting in year three), and 135,500 tonnes of boric acid at all-in sustaining costs (net of the boric acid credit) of $4,628 per tonne LCE. The project delivers an after-tax NPV (at an 8% discount rate) of $2.24 billion and after-tax IRR of 18%. Initial capital was pegged at $1.7 million with a payback of seven years.
An updated resource from October outlined measured and indicated tonnes of 440.3 million tonnes grading 1,424 ppm lithium and 5,026 ppm boron for 3.34 million tonnes contained LCE and 12.66 million tonnes contained boric acid. Inferred resources add 108.3 million tonnes averaging 1,310 ppm lithium and 3,384 ppm boron for 755,000 tonnes LCE and 2.1 million tonnes boric acid.
Ioneer has signed separate offtake agreements with Ford Motor Company and Prime Planet & Energy Solutions (a joint-venture between Toyota and Panasonic) and South Korea’s EcoPro Innovation.
Ioneer has a market cap of about $323 million.
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