Rare Earth Processing Plant Opens in Coloradohttps://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2020/7/16/rare-earth-processing-plant-opens-in-coloradoA new pilot plant that will process rare earth elements necessary for many critical U.S. military weapons systems opened in June, as part of an effort to end China’s monopoly on the important resources.
The pilot plant is a joint venture between USA Rare Earth and Texas Mineral Resources Corp. The two companies previously funded a project on Round Top mountain in Hudspeth County, Texas, which features 16 of the 17 rare earth elements.
“Our objective is to set up a domestic U.S. supply chain without the materials ever leaving the United States,†said Pini Althaus, CEO of USA Rare Earth.
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USA Rare Earth previously held two grants with the government. One was with the Defense Logistics Agency where the company successfully demonstrated high-purity separation of three rare earth elements, Althaus said.
The second grant was with the Department of Energy. ...
One side of solving the dependency problem is allowing mines to re-open, which I believe the Trump Administration has done. This is the other of the solution, facilities to process ores. I'm pretty sure that if Biden is elected POTUS, both mining and processing will be shut down, either directly by the EPA or phony lawsuits in which the EPA would be a collusive partner rather than and actual adversary.
