Phoenix Tailings picks Rochester for $375 million rare earth plant

Phoenix Tailings has selected Eastman Business Park in Rochester, New York, for a commercial scale rare earth separation facility, a $375 million, 500,000 square foot plant that will convert mined and recycled feedstocks into separated oxides. The plant, named Freedom Separation, is the centrepiece of the company’s $1.2 billion plus Freedom Project and is expected to process more than 18,000 tons of feedstock a year and produce more than 4,400 tons of separated rare earth oxides at full capacity, with production ramping from 2027 and full production in 2028. New York state will provide $3 million in performance based tax credits, and the project follows a $500 million conditional loan commitment from the Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital.

The facility will support more than 200 direct New York jobs, including at least 90 at launch, the company said. “America and its allies cannot build the next generation of advanced manufacturing on a rare earth supply chain they do not control,” chief executive Nick Myers said. Governor Kathy Hochul said the plant would bolster national security by building a clean supply chain for rare earth elements in New York, reducing reliance on foreign sources. Separation capacity, not mining, is the binding constraint in the Western rare earth chain, and most new United States capacity is not due online until 2027 or later.