March 24 (Reuters) - Ucore Rare Metals UCU.V signed a memorandum of understanding with Vulcan Elements earlier this month to develop a domestic rare earth magnet supply chain for defense and commercial applications, the company said on Tuesday.
The agreement is in line with U.S. efforts to expand domestic critical mineral production and reduce reliance on China.
The collaboration aligns Ucore’s rare earth separation platform in Ontario, Canada and its planned Louisiana facility with the North Carolina-based magnet manufacturer, the company said.
Vulcan currently operates a commercial magnet plant in Durham, North Carolina and is expanding to a 10,000-ton magnet manufacturing facility in Benson, North Carolina backed by a $1.4 billion partnership with the U.S. government.
Under the MoU, Ucore’s Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex will directly feed Vulcan’s North Carolina manufacturing facilities.
Ucore plans to supply Vulcan with neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) and dysprosium (Dy) oxides at commercial scale starting in 2027.
In 2025, Critical Metals CRML.O had signed a 10‑year agreement to supply heavy rare earth concentrate to Ucore Rare Metals' U.S. government-funded processing facility in Louisiana.
(Reporting by Varun Sahay in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Ananda)
((Varun.Sahay@thomsonreuters.com;))