US Critical Materials, Idaho National Laboratory partner to build rare earth processing plant

US Critical Materials and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have entered into a Phase II cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) to establish a pilot-scale processing plant capable of producing rare earths.

The facility will process high-grade ore from the company’s flagship Sheep Creek deposit in Montana, which holds various critical minerals including neodymium, praseodymium, niobium, strontium, samarium, scandium, and heavy rare earths such as gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium and yttrium.

The Utah-based privately held company has reported rare earth samples from 125 feet underground at its property that exceed the grades of any other domestic rare earth resource. Since early 2024, Phase I CRADA researchers have confirmed the high concentrations of gallium and rare earth elements in the Sheep Creek orebody.

Sheep Creek also contains high grade gallium, which will be one of the first minerals to be processed—and is vital for national security applications, the company said.

This initiative, it said, aligns with President Trump’s March executive order declaring a national emergency over America’s reliance on foreign adversaries for these strategic materials.

For decades, the United States has been dependent on China for its rare earths supply. The latter controls the mining, processing and refining of these essential elements.

Amid the geopolitical drama incited by a turbulent trade war, China’s export controls on metals vital across the defence and tech sectors spotlight the urgent need for more robust domestic supply chains.

Idaho National Laboratory is globally recognized for its expertise in advanced separation science and engineering, and serves as the US Department of Energy’s primary separation sciences R&D testbed.

US Critical Materials said INL scientists will contribute technical expertise to ensure the pilot plant integrates environmentally responsible refining processes that can scale to full production. The pilot facility will now validate proprietary processing methodologies at scale, ensuring full-scale production capability for America’s defense needs, the company stated.

The objectives are to reduce US reliance on adversarial nations for critical minerals, secure a domestic supply chain for rare earths used in defense systems and advance mineral processing technologies essential for national resilience, it added.

According to US Critical Materials, the pilot plant capacity will be 1 to 2 tons of ore per day, based on a validated bench-scale flow sheet.

The project will also demonstrate innovative mineral processing and separation technologies and establish intellectual property and scalable domestic production capabilities for critical materials.

“There is no more pressing national security issue than securing America’s supply of rare earths and critical minerals,” Jim Hedrick, US Critical Materials president and former USGS rare earths commodity specialist, said in a statement.

“These materials are the backbone of our military, energy and technological dominance. This pilot plant will accelerate the development of next-generation separation and refining methods to ensure America no longer relies on foreign adversaries for resources essential to national defense.”