Building a sustainable, secure and circular rare earth magnet supply chain

Mkango Magnetic Materials is developing an integrated rare earth magnet business focused on the recycling, manufacture and supply of neodymium-iron-boron (“NdFeB”) permanent magnets and alloys.

The business is focused on addressing the growing demand for high-performance magnets in the future facing sectors such as electric vehicles, wind turbines, robotics and AI data centres, while reducing reliance on primary raw materials and geographically concentrated supply chains.

At the core of the business is HyProMag’s patented Hydrogen Processing of Magnet Scrap (“HPMS”) technology, developed at the University of Birmingham. HPMS enables NdFeB magnets to be recovered from end-of-life products and manufacturing scrap and processed into recycled NdFeB alloy suitable for the manufacture of new magnets. This creates a short-loop, magnet-to-magnet recycling route with substantially lower energy and environmental impacts than conventional primary supply chains.

Mkango is building an international platform spanning the UK, Germany and the United States. The platform is designed to capture value across the supply chain — from recovery of magnet-containing scrap through processing and alloy production to the manufacture and supply of finished NdFeB magnets.

Mkango’s subsidiary Remloy has developed a plant in Bitterfeld, Germany, which recycles end-of-life rare earth magnets via a melting process (medium loop recycling) to produce NdFeB alloy powders for the bonded and hot deformed magnet markets. The Remloy process is complementary to HyProMag’s short loop recycling process to produce sintered magnets, and to Mkango Rare Earths UK’s long loop recycling process, to produce mixed rare earth carbonates and oxides. Target capacity is at least 500 tonnes per year of NdFeB alloy powder at Remloy.

The business is positioned at the intersection of several major structural trends: electrification, renewable energy, aerospace and advanced manufacturing, all of which are driving demand for permanent magnets. At the same time, governments in Europe, North America and elsewhere are prioritising domestic and allied sources of critical minerals, recycling and resilient supply chains.Mkango’s objective is to establish a globally relevant, circular rare earth magnet platform — recovering valuable materials from existing products and returning them to the supply chain as high-performance magnets and magnet materials.