American Rare Earths Ltd. has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with US-based rare earth specialist Novex, LLC to convert separated rare earth oxides from its Halleck Creek project in Wyoming into magnet-ready metals.
The deal, signed through ARR’s wholly owned subsidiary Wyoming Rare (USA) Inc., establishes a framework to process neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxides from the company’s demonstration plant into precursor metals required for permanent magnets.
The partnership directly addresses a critical bottleneck in the Western rare earth supply chain, which is oxide-to-metal processing.
China currently controls global metallisation capacity, creating severe risks following its April 2025 decision to impose export licensing on critical heavy rare earths, including dysprosium and terbium.
Furthermore, upcoming US defense regulations will ban contractors from supplying magnets containing rare earths mined, refined, or separated in China starting 1 January 2027.
Under the agreement, Novex, which operates a development centre in Washington backed by US Department of Energy funding, will collaborate with ARR on optimising process recovery. The technical route will focus on high-temperature molten salt electrolysis, identified by ARR as the cleanest metallisation pathway.
The parties will also work together on the design and development of a metal production facility to be built by the company, covering process design, technology selection, engineering scope, throughput and product mix, siting and permitting, and capital and operating costs.
The Halleck Creek deposit represents the largest known contained rare earth resource in the US, hosting a JORC-compliant resource of 2.63 billion tonnes.
American Rare Earths CEO Mark Wall described the MoU as a milestone toward establishing an independent US supply chain.
“This MoU is a critical step in advancing our stated intention of building the only fully U.S. domestic vertically integrated mine-to-magnet supply chain,” Wall said.
“Putting our massive Wyoming resource alongside their technical capability is an important step in developing the cornerstone of U.S. domestic rare earth and magnet production.”
Novex CEOIlija Mišković added that Halleck Creek provides the secure domestic feedstock required to establish US processing capabilities.
The companies aim to finalize a binding long-term collaboration agreement within 12 months.