Mkango Adds Investment in Rare Earth Magnet Recycler HyProMag

Mkango Resources Ltd, a Vancouver, Canada-based company has increased its interest in UK-based rare earth magnet recycler HyProMag, increasing its share from 25% to 41.6%. HyProMag was established by the founding directors of the Magnetic Materials Group at the School of Metallurgy and Materials, University of Birmingham, UK. The company is developing the commercial recovery of short-loop magnets via its patented Hydrogen Processing of Magnet Scrap (HPMS) technology.

The HPMS process for extracting and demagnetizing neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) alloy powder from magnets embedded in scrap and redundant equipment was originally developed by the Magnetic Materials Group at the University of Birmingham and subsequently licensed to HyProMag.

Rare earth magnets play a critical role in clean energy technologies including electric vehicles and wind turbine generators, as well as being a critical component of electronic devices including cell phones, hard disk drives and loudspeakers.

There are no domestic sources of primary rare earths in the UK. Therefore, the development of domestically recovered rare earth resources through HPMS is said to be a significant opportunity to rapidly develop sustainable and competitive rare earth magnet production in the U.K. HyProMag is scaling up a short-loop recycling process that is expected to yield significant environmental benefits, requiring 88% less energy than conventional primary-source magnet production and saving an estimated 98% toxicity to human.

Mkango has established a new UK subsidiary, Mkango Rare Earths UK Limited, to develop complementary opportunities in rare earth recycling and green technologies in the UK, and the company is working closely with HyProMag and the University of Birmingham on growth opportunities.

Mkango's 41.6% interest in HyProMag is held through a 100% owned subsidiary, Maginito Limited, and Maginito has the option to increase its interest in HyProMag to 49%. Maginito has the first right to supply primary products, as well as product offtake and marketing rights, if blending with HyProMag's recycled products is required.

William Dawes, CEO of the company, said, "We are very pleased to increase our interest in HyProMag, which has the technology, team and partner network to open up the supply chain for rare earth magnet recycling. We look forward to supporting its future growth as it scales up its commercial production and develops new partnership opportunities in the recycling space. Recycling is a key component of Mkango's 'mine, refine, recycle' strategy and will become an increasingly important part of the rare earth supply chain in the UK, Europe and elsewhere."

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