Solvay resumes rare earth production

Solvay is planning a small-scale expansion of its rare earths processing facility in La Rochelle on France’s Atlantic coast. If the customer response from the automotive and wind turbine sectors is strong enough, it may invest €100 million to produce at full scale.

The plant was one of the largest in the world until the 1980s but declined as China ramped up production to the point where it now account for about 90% of the world's processed rare earths. However, China has now placed export restrictions on certain rare earth elements as part of its sweeping response to US tariffs.

The initial focus will be on neodymium and praseodymium, which are used to make the super-strong magnets that power electric vehicles and wind turbines. Solvay aims to supply 30% of Europe's processed rare earths demand for magnets by 2030. 

The company confirmed that capacity is not an issue and production could reach 2,000-5,000 metric tons of rare earth oxide. However progress will depend on downstream decisions from customer and support from the EU, whose Critical Raw Materials Act set targets of 10% of critical minerals needs being mined, 25% recycled and 40% processed domestically by 2030.

“What's happening is an incentive to develop those regional value chains,” said CEO Philippe Kehren at the launch event. “Now let's see if people really want to develop this value chain because if we want to invest further, we will need some comfort from the customers.”