According to Bloomberg, Phoenix Tailings, an American metal refining company, plans to seek an initial public offering (IPO) within the next three years. To achieve this, the company is currently building new plants to produce rare earth elements for automobiles, medical devices and military equipment.
Image credit: Phoenix Tailings
Phoenix Tailings CEO Nick Myers said in an interview: “This is our ambitious goal. Despite the daunting goal, I enjoy taking on challenges every day. ”
Phoenix Tailings has been around for six years and focuses on extracting rare earths (including 17 elements needed for magnets, batteries and personal electronics) from mining waste. Phoenix Tailings’ plant in Massachusetts, USA, currently has an annual capacity of 40 metric tons. The company expects to scale up in the coming weeks after its new plant in New Hampshire, USA, with an initial capacity of 200 tons, comes onlineyield。
As co-founder of Phoenix Tailings, Nick Myers also revealed that the company’s longer-term plans include building a one-yearCapacityLarge production facilities of up to 4,000 metric tons, located in West Virginia, Nevada or Texas, USA. He said that Phoenix Tailings, which is currently not yet listed, has received capital injections from the venture capital arms of BMW Group, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. and Sumitomo Corporation, as well as financial support from the U.S. Department of Energy.
At present, a number of companies focusing on rare earth elements are emerging in North America, which is a strategy adopted by the United States and its allies to counter China’s near-monopoly position in the global critical materials supply chain. It is reported that China sits on nearly half of the world’s rare earth reserves, and its rare earth mining accounts for about 70% of the global total, and these rare earth elements are essential to modern life.
It is worth noting that in response to the Trump administration’s tariffs, since April 4, China has imposed export restrictions on seven rare earth elements and some magnets, requiring exporters to obtain licenses issued by the Chinese government. This has led executives from some of the world’s largest car companies, including General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen Group and Hyundai Motor, to express serious concerns about the shortage of rare earth magnets in China. However, sources said that China has issued temporary export licenses to rare earth suppliers of the three major US automakers (General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis).