Commercial-scale production from 2026. Materials are easier to source, the company claims.
U.S. magnet startup Niron Magnetics has commenced operations at its pilot magnet plant in Minneapolis, Minnesota. According to the company, the facility is the world’s first rare earth-free permanent magnet factory. Instead of rare earth elements, Niron only uses iron and nitrogen, which are more easily accessible, Niron added. The strongest commercially available permanent magnets, neodymium-iron-boron or NdFeB magnets, are made of an alloy containing roughly 69 percent iron, thirty percent rare earths, and one percent boron. However, industry participants are skeptical regarding the potential widespread adoption of iron nitride magnet compounds. John Ormerod, head of magnetics and metal consultancy JOC, told industry service Fastmarkets earlier this year that iron nitride has a lower resistance to demagnetization, making it an “unlikely candidate” for electric vehicle traction motors, one of the main fields of application of rare earth magnets besides wind turbines and electronics.
China Dominates the Industry
Niron stated that the commercial pilot facility has a production capacity of roughly five tons of magnets per year. In its full-scale manufacturing plant, which was recently announced to be in nearby Sartell, Minnesota, Niron plans to produce 1,500 tons of permanent magnets annually from 2026—a low amount, considering that market leader China exported 52,660 t of rare earth permanent magnets in 2023, customs data show. The People’s Republic accounts for roughly 90 percent of global rare earth magnet production. To address this import dependency, companies worldwide are ramping up efforts to increase production. For example, E-VAC Magnetics, the U.S. subsidiary of German magnet maker VAC, is constructing a magnet-making plant in South Carolina, while MP Materials, operator of the only U.S. rare earth mine, Mountain Pass, is building a manufacturing plant in Fort Worth, Texas.
Photo: iStock/Michael Ien Cohen