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A new Arizona plant is going after the rare earth supply crunch
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Mesa, Arizona, has become home to the first commercial-scale rare earth magnet recycling facility in the United States. Cyclic Materials opened the plant, which can process up to 25,000 metric tons of magnet-bearing end-of-life products annually. The operation is designed to recover rare earth materials needed for electric vehicle motors, wind turbine generators, electronics, robotics, and defense applications. The company expects to make its first commercial shipments to US customers later this month.
Global demand for rare earth elements is projected to triple by 2035, according to Cyclic Materials, driven by automotive, energy, AI, robotics, electronics, and defense sectors. At the same time, the rare earth supply chain remains heavily concentrated in China. That concentration leaves manufacturers vulnerable to trade restrictions and other geopolitical disruptions. Recycling offers a way to supplement newly mined supplies by recovering valuable materials from products that have reached the end of their useful lives.
The Mesa facility is the first commercial-scale deployment of Cyclic’s proprietary MagCycle technology. It mechanically separates magnets from discarded equipment and produces a rare earth magnet concentrate called Mag-Xtract, along with copper, aluminum, and steel. More than 7,000 metric tons of magnet-bearing material have already been delivered to the site, and processing is underway. Cyclic says the plant will return recovered materials to US manufacturing.
Cyclic Materials has not specified which products are being processed at the facility. However, in July it signed a major deal with electronics recycler ERI. That partnership is expected to supply end-of-life electronics and other equipment for magnet recovery. The agreement underscores how recycling can create a domestic source of critical materials from discarded products.
The plant matters to the EV and renewable energy industries because rare-earth permanent magnets are used in many EV traction motors and wind turbine generators. They are also found in electronics, robotics, industrial equipment, AI hardware, and defense applications. For manufacturers, the Mesa operation could eventually mean another US source of materials used to make motors and generators. It also adds capacity for keeping resource-rich products in the country.
"This facility delivers new capacity for the US to keep resource-rich products here and build a domestic rare earth supply," said Ahmad Ghahreman, CEO and founder of Cyclic Materials. "Cyclic is quickly closing gaps in the domestic supply chain as we expedite our rare earth and critical mineral infrastructure development in the US." The company completed the Mesa facility 17 months after announcing it. The project reflects a broader push to reduce reliance on foreign rare earth processing.
Cyclic is also developing a recycling campus in South Carolina, scheduled to open in 2028. That site will combine magnet recovery and rare earth refining at a single location. If successful, the Mesa and South Carolina projects could help diversify a supply chain that remains vulnerable to geopolitical shocks. The first commercial shipments from Mesa are expected later this month.
