Phoenix Tailings opens Exeter Facility to Boost Domestic Rare Earth Metal Production
Phoenix Tailings has launched a new manufacturing facility in Exeter, New Hampshire, focused on a critical, currently China-dominated step in the rare earth metal supply chain. The company, which also operates facilities in Woburn and burlington, Massachusetts, aims to bolster domestic production of these essential materials used in automobiles, medical devices, and increasingly, defense applications.
the Exeter plant, secured after approximately six months of searching, benefited from an existing connection: an investor worked for the property-management company owning the building, facilitating a quick move-in.
“Its exciting to see a new manufacturing business open in Exeter, particularly one as unique as Phoenix Tailings,” stated Darren Winham, Exeter’s economic development director. “My office and other regional service providers are currently assisting with their workforce recruitment and are seeing success on this front. I expect good things as they grow.”
Phoenix Tailings’ Massachusetts locations include a 5,000-square-foot research and development building in Woburn and a 25,000-square-foot production facility in Burlington. The company’s work has garnered attention from national news outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Reuters.
The Exeter facility will focus on metallization – the final stage in processing rare earth metals. According to Phoenix Tailings representative, Myers, the process takes raw materials extracted from the earth – a mixture of 17 different elements – and refines them into usable forms. “The final stage is called metallization, and that’s what we do here at Phoenix,” he explained. “It’s one part of the supply chain for rare earth metals, but it’s a very, very importent one and one that’s fully dominated in China.”
Initially focused on the automotive and medical industries, Phoenix Tailings has recently seen growing demand from the defense sector.”When we first started Phoenix, we did not have that in mind,” Myers said. “But lately it has shifted to that mindset.” He emphasized the meaning of establishing this capability within the United States, stating, “This facility is very important because that one part of the value chain, metallization, realy is not done at all in the United States.”
The company has raised approximately $86 million in investment, including funding from BMW and Yamaha.Phoenix Tailings holds 114 patents and trade secrets related to its manufacturing process.
Looking ahead, Myers envisions expanding operations across the continental United States and diversifying into the production of other critical minerals. The company also plans to minimize waste by utilizing mineral extraction byproducts and processing them throughout the supply chain – a process mirroring the company’s namesake, the phoenix, which rises renewed from ashes.these byproducts are known as “tailings.”
