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(Sharecast News) - Mkango Resources said on Tuesday that its HyProMag subsidiary would officially open its rare earth magnet recycling and manufacturing plant in Pforzheim, Germany, marking a further step in the commercialisation of its recycling technology in Europe.
The AIM-traded company said the plant comprises a commercial-scale rare earth sintered magnet recycling and manufacturing line, using patented 'Hydrogen Processing of Magnet Scrap' technology developed at the University of Birmingham and exclusively licensed to HyProMag.
It said the site was fully permitted for production of up to 750 tonnes per year of neodymium-iron-boron magnets and alloys.
Once fully commissioned, the plant would have a minimum initial capacity of about 100 tonnes per year of NdFeB, increasing to about 350 tonnes per year.
A further scale-up to 750 tonnes per year was under evaluation, with HyProMag GmbH targeting a phased increase to that level over the next three years.
The firm said first commissioning runs of the HPMS reactor had been completed successfully, with sequential commissioning of other major equipment underway, as announced on 9 April.
Mkango said its strategy was to become a market leader in recycled rare earth magnets, alloys and oxides through its interest in Maginito, which is 79.4% owned by Mkango and 20.6% by CoTec Holdings.
Maginito owns HyProMag Limited and holds a 90% direct and indirect interest in HyProMag GmbH, assuming conversion of its convertible loan, focused on short-loop rare earth magnet recycling in the UK and Germany respectively.
Maginito also owns Mkango Rare Earths UK, which is focused on long-loop rare earth magnet recycling in the UK through a chemical route.
Maginito and CoTec were expanding HPMS recycling technology into the US through their 50-50 owned HyProMag USA joint venture.
Mkango also owns the Songwe Hill rare earths project in Malawi and the proposed PuBawy rare earths separation plant in Poland.
Both projects had been selected as strategic projects under the European Union Critical Raw Materials Act.
Songwe had also received $4.6m in reimbursable development funding from the US International Development Finance Corporation for front-end engineering and design.
The company said it had signed a business combination agreement with Crown PropTech Acquisitions to list the Songwe Hill and PuBawy rare earths projects on Nasdaq through a SPAC merger under the name Mkango Rare Earths Limited.
At 1254 BST, shares in Mkango Resources were down 3.03% at 46.06p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
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