Highlights
- UK-based HyProMag develops innovative HPMS technology to recycle rare earth magnets with 95% recycled content.
- The company demonstrates the ability to convert scrap from e-bikes, MRI units, and hard drives into high-grade sintered magnets.
- Potential game-changer for Western rare earth supply chains.
- Current scale remains limited compared to Chinese production.
In a technical bulletin (opens in a new tab) released yesterday, UK-based HyProMag Ltd (opens in a new tab).—a subsidiary of Mkango Resources Ltd.—declared a major step forward in the rare-earth recycling race: full integration of scrap-to-magnet production using its patented HPMS (Hydrogen Processing of Magnet Scrap) technology. The company claims to now produce sintered NdFeB magnets with over 95% recycled content and performance metrics comparable to those of virgin materials.
It’s a bold announcement that, if validated at scale, could disrupt China’s near-total grip on rare earth magnet supply. Well, this might be a stretch in the shot to the intermediate run. Let’s say HyProMag’s model could complement Western supply chains, but volumes would remain minuscule compared to China’s industrial scale, at least in the short to intermediate run. The company’s approach is promising for localized circular economies but is not yet a macro-level threat to Chinese dominance, at least not anytime soon.
While the achievement deserves recognition, investors and policymakers should view the development with both optimism and scrutiny.
Technical Leap or Commercial Stretch
HyProMag reports that its Birmingham facility can now process waste inputs—including electric bike motors, MRI units, and hard disk drives—directly into high-grade sintered magnets, thereby skipping the energy-intensive chemical separation process. Notably, the company has removed the problematic oxygen-rich grain boundary phase, a common barrier in short-loop recycling, thereby enabling higher magnet grades, such as N42SH, without the need for heavy rare earth additives.
Testing by automotive giants ZF and GKN reportedly confirms near-parity performance with virgin magnets. Sean Worrall, Chief Engineer at GKN, stated that the recycled magnets “replicated expected performance exceptionally closely,” suggesting that the HPMS magnets could be plugged directly into next-generation EV motor simulations.
Yet despite this validation, it remains unclear whether HyProMag’s process can scale economically beyond pilot output levels. Recent trials only produced 100 kg of NdFeB powder per week—a drop in the ocean compared to multi-thousand-ton annual demand from the EV and wind turbine industries.
Process Transparency and Feedstock Questions
HyProMag’s vertically integrated model, from scrap to magnet, is touted as a major advantage. But several structural questions remain that Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx) includes in the table below:
| Questions | Summary |
|---|---|
| Feedstock Consistency | While the company touts compositional uniformity through tight process control, real-world magnet waste is notoriously heterogeneous. Case studies using mixed voice coil motors showed that 17 distinct morphologies and impurity profiles had to be managed. Can this level of quality control be maintained at industrial throughput? |
| Input Scalability | HyProMag has sourced scrap from relatively accessible streams like HDDs and e-bikes. But capturing larger-scale, diversified supply will require aggressive reverse logistics infrastructure—an element not addressed in the bulletin. |
| Despite claims of 95% recycled content, many of the company’s high-grade magnets are still reliant on blending with virgin alloys or “long-loop” recycled rare earth oxides from Mkango’s pilot plants. The sustainability and sovereignty benefits of this hybrid approach must be weighed carefully. |
What Investors Should Watch Next
HyProMag’s scientific credibility seems clear enough—its HPMS technology stems from decades of work at the University of Birmingham, and the recent bulletin shows rigorous magnetic property testing across N42M to UH grades. But as Mkango seeks to position HyProMag as a Western alternative to Chinese magnet supply, the real test will be economic, not academic.
Some questions might include:
- What are the projected operating costs per kg of magnet, and how do they compare to Chinese output?
- Can HyProMag secure long-term scrap input agreements and close the logistical loop at scale?
- How reliant is the model on subsidy support from EU or UK green manufacturing initiatives?
With the new Tyseley Energy Park facility (opens in a new tab) expected online this year, the next six months will determine whether HyProMag can evolve from a compelling science project into a cornerstone of rare earth industrial resilience.
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