Ionic-led project demonstrates viable recycled rare earth supply chain for EV motors

Ionic Rare Earths (ASX: IXR) says it has successfully led a European collaboration demonstrating the Western world’s first end-to-end recycled rare earth supply chain for electric vehicle motor magnets.

On Monday, the Australian firm said it has successfully led a ground-breaking project that also involves Less Common Metals (LCM), GKN and Ford UK, designed to test the conversion of recycled rare earth metal into magnets used in Ford EVs.

The project was supported via the UK government’s CLIMATES initiative, which fostered 36 projects supporting circular rare earth elements (REE) initiatives. The Ionic-led circular automotive supply chain was considered a flagship project, providing a fully circular demonstration for high-specification magnets.

In late 2023, the company received UK government backing to build a commercial rare earth magnet recycling facility in Belfast, which will provide materials to LCM for alloy production. The alloy will then be converted into magnets to be used for Ford’s electric vehicle production facilities in the country.

Ionic currently produces rare earth oxides (REOs) of neodymium, dysprosium and terbium at target purities of above 99.5% via recycling of magnets and secondary materials from within the magnet supply chain.

As part of the collaboration, the recycled rare earth oxides are converted into metal and strip alloy to magnet specification by LCM, prior to GKN making the magnets to Ford specifications. The magnets are then tested at Ford’s R&D facility in Dunton, UK.

During the testing, the rotor produced with the recycled materials magnets passed a durability test cycle, with results equivalent to rotors manufactured with production magnets, Ionic said.

West’s first recycled REOs

“Utilizing made-in-Belfast technology, Ionic Technologies was the first producer of recycled, individually separated magnet REOs in the Western world, and this now proves that its long-loop recycling technology can supply Western supply chains for the most demanding applications,” Ionic’s managing director Tim Harrison commented.

According to the company, this project provided evidence that rare earth oxides produced using Ionic’s proprietary technology are not only appropriate for use in high-specification magnet supply chains, but also that the long-loop recycling method can enable a UK-orientated holistic supply chain that can deliver magnets equivalent to the existing supply chain.

Under the UK’s Critical Minerals Strategy announced in November 2025, the country is targeting producing 10% of its mineral needs domestically and 20% through recycling by 2035, compared to current domestic production, which accounts for just 6% of its critical minerals needs.

This is a significant breakthrough in achieving the UK government’s goal of reducing the nation’s overreliance on foreign imports of critical minerals, protecting the UK from shortages in global shocks and shoring up supply chains, Ionic said.