Mkango Resources has achieved the first production of recycled rare earth magnets in the UK on commercial scale magnet manufacturing equipment in over 20 years.
This is a “major milestone” in securing critical raw materials for the energy transition, stated the company.
Production of recycled rare earth magnets at Tyseley is being developed by the University of Birmingham and HyProMag, which is owned by Mkango’s 79.4% held subsidiary, Maginito.
Further production runs are planned in the coming weeks to provide customer and project partner samples.
Commercial production at Tyseley is targeted for mid-2024, with initial throughput targeted at 20 tonnes per annum (tpa) of rare earth magnets and alloys, scaling up to a minimum of 100tpa in subsequent months.
Larger scale up scenarios of up to 1000tpa are being evaluated.
HyProMag is the main industrial partner for the Tyseley development and the exclusive licencee for underlying HPMS technology, developed at the University of Birmingham and now being commercialised by HyProMag.
HPMS is a revolutionary new recycling technology that preserves the quality of the original magnets for reprocessing; a far cleaner and more energy efficient process than the traditional dismantling, thermal demagnetisation and cleaning processes and lends itself to automated and efficient processing.
The resulting recycled magnets are being made to recognised industrial grades.
The Tyseley development forms the basis for the 2024 development of magnet recycling and manufacture in Germany by HyProMag and for the 2025/2026 development of a multi-spoke and hub operation in the United States through the joint venture with CoTec Holdings.
Commissioning of the remaining equipment and infrastructure at Tyseley is expected in the coming weeks, underpinning the subsequent transition to commercial production.
For these initial production runs, the recycled raw material feed was derived from wind turbine magnets, voice coil assemblies from hard disk drives and production scrap which was processed through the existing recycling pilot plant commissioned in 2022 at the University of Birmingham, and then transported for short loop magnet manufacture at Tyseley.
Will Dawes, Chief Executive of Mkango said: “This is a major milestone for the Company, HyProMag and for the UK, creating a strong platform to advance to commercial production and for the scale-up and roll-out of HPMS technology into Germany, United States and other jurisdictions.
“HyProMag’s recycling technology has major competitive advantages versus other recycling technologies, and is a key enabler for the cost effective and energy efficient separation and recycling of rare earth magnets, avoiding the need for dismantling, and enabling the production of magnets with a significantly reduced carbon footprint.”