Ionic Rare Earths Limited (ASX: IXR) has confirmed the launch of Ionic Technologies International Ltd.
IonicTech is the rebranded 100% owned subsidiary (formerly Seren Technologies Ltd) based in Belfast UK, which the company acquired earlier in 2022. IonicTech has developed separation and refining technology and applied this to magnet rare earth extraction and refining recovery from permanent magnet recycling.
The new brand consolidates upon IonicRE’s strategy to become a fully integrated circular economy participant for critical magnet and heavy rare earths. Increasing supply of these critical elements by providing localised modular recycling developments represents a strong opportunity for Ionic Rare Earths to develop an early mover advantage on the back of their advance technology.
This technology can hydro-metallurgically extract the elemental rare earth element (REE) content from the waste material, and then separate and refine to produce the individually separated 99.9% grade REOs – Nd2O3, Pr6O11, Dy2O3 and Tb4O7.
Ionic Tech is now accelerating the scale up of the technology, completing a new pilot plant at its new facility at the Titanic Quarter in Belfast UK.
The company was recently awarded a grant of £1.72 million from the UK Government’s Innovate UK Automotive Transformation Fund Scale up Readiness Validation (SuRV) programme, to develop a demonstration scale magnet recycling plant, a significant step towards securing the UK supply of critical rare earth metals for EV manufacture.
Ionic Rare Earths sees the commercialisation of the technology offering from IonicTech into modular magnet recycling initiatives and partnerships, with global governments looking to develop domestic magnet REO supply chains to empower localised manufacturing, including EV and renewable energy transitions. Such partnerships will also provide more secure and traceable supply chains for critical raw material.
We are delighted to be able to now formally progress with the change of name to Ionic Technologies International Limited, and to commence building the brand from which we will commercialise a leading edge, patented technology to help deliver a viable alternative solution for the processing of waste agent and swarf to produce separated and refined REOs to be used in new permanent magnets,” Ionic Rare Earths Managing Director, Tim Harrison, said.
“The latest statistics from Wood Mackenzie and Adamas Intelligence suggest the magnet REO supply is sourced between 30-40% from recycled materials, with China dominating over 99% of the magnet recycling landscape. Ionic Rare Earths through IonicTech aims to provide an alternative option, with a low cost, modular entry for recycled magnet REOs deployable close to sources of secondary material.
“The circular economy of rare earths will become increasingly more important over years to come, with the current production of magnet rare earths in significant deficit to forecast demand, and with no new supply coming into production, and no new projects in construction today, the deficit is expected to further increase.”
Rare Earths for Life
The adopted strapline of “Rare Earths for Life” refers to the circular economy of the products expected to be produced by Ionic Rare Earths; firstly, from its flagship Makuutu Rare Earth Project in Uganda, which has the potential to produce magnet and heavy rare earths for decades to come, and secondly from its unique recycling technology, providing a true circular economy of magnet rare earth production.
The Existing Magnet Recycling Landscape
According to Wood Mackenzie, the secondary production of rare earths from recycled sources is almost entirely derived from China due to the high level of integration between magnet producers, rare earth metal producers and recyclers.
Currently, most secondary supply is sourced from offcuts and grinding media produced during magnet manufacturing, known as swarf. The use of end-of-life material is restricted by component design and challenges during disassembly. Wood Mackenzie estimates that growth in recycling will continue to accelerate at a growth rate around 9% to 2026 and continue to be dominated by China.
When looking at existing global production of REO from refined primary sources and secondary recycled sources, the global content of recycled materials equates to approximately 15% of the total REO production at present and forecast to 2026.
When exploring the magnet REO content, which is that from which the bulk of the value is being derived in the rare earths market, published data, suggest the secondary sourcing of magnet REO makes up 40% of the current market, again an area which is completely dominated by China, underscores the scale of the opportunity being explored by IonicTech.