US rare earths refiner Phoenix Tailings eyes IPO within 3 years

Credit: Phoenix Tailings

US metals refiner Phoenix Tailings plans to pursue an initial public offering within three years after building out plants to produce rare earth elements to go into automobiles, medical devices and military equipment.

“That’s our big target,” chief executive officer Nick Myers said in a Monday interview. “It’s an aggressive goal, but I like to wake up and do aggressive things on a daily basis.”

The six-year-old firm is focused on extracting rare earths — a group of 17 elements used in magnets, batteries and personal electronics — from mining waste. Phoenix Tailings has a Massachusetts facility that can produce 40 metric tons a year. The refiner expects to boost output in the coming weeks after opening a New Hampshire plant that has an initial production capacity of 200 tons annually.

Longer-term plans include building an even larger plant, possibly in West Virginia, Nevada or Texas, that could produce as much as 4,000 tons a year, said Myers, who’s also the co-founder. The closely held firm has attracted investment from the venture capital arms of BMW AG, Yamaha Motor Co., and Sumitomo Corp., and funding from the US Energy Department, he said.

North America is seeing a surge of firms focusing on rare earths as the US and its allies seek to respond to China’s near-monopoly over the global supply chain of these key materials that underpin modern life. China is home to almost half the world’s reserves of rare earths, and the country is responsible for about 70% of the volumes dug up from mines.

(By Elise Harris and James Mayger)

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