Recruiting the Rare Earth Element Workforce in the U.S. Supply Chain

Highlights

• The US rare earth supply chain faces significant talent shortages across upstream mining, midstream processing, and downstream manufacturing segments.
• Recruiting firms and public-private partnerships are actively developing strategies to build a domestic workforce through training, industry collaboration, and skill transfer from adjacent sectors.
• Rebuilding the rare earth element supply chain is as much a human capital challenge as an infrastructure challenge, requiring aggressive recruitment and robust workforce development.

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The drive to establish a domestic rare earth element (REE) supply chain in the United States has created high demand for skilled talent across upstream mining, midstream processing, and downstream manufacturing segments. However, decades of offshoring and industry decline have left a severe skills gap in this field. Below is an assessment of how recruiting firms and workforce initiatives are addressing talent needs at each stage – from the mine to magnet (and even recycling) – and the challenges they face.

Upstream: Mining & Extraction Talent

Rebuilding rare earth mining and primary processing (separation) capacity starts at the mine site. Key roles in this segment include mining engineers, geologists, heavy equipment operators, metallurgists, and environmental/safety specialists. Yet the U.S. has a shortage of experienced professionals in these areas – only a handful of universities still offer mining or mineral processing degrees, and mining engineering graduates have declined by 39% since 2016. As new rare earth mining projects launch in states like California (Mountain Pass), Wyoming (Bear Lodge), and Montana (Sheep Creek), the talent pipeline is struggling to keep up.

Specialized recruiting firms are stepping in to bridge this gap. For example, Davalyn Corporation has been “at the forefront of recruitment in the mining and metals industries, with a specialized focus on the burgeoning field of Rare Earth Elements (opens in a new tab)” since 1989.

 Davalyn’s dedicated REE division understands the unique challenges of rare earth mining and connects top-tier engineers and technical talent with companies in this critical sector. Similarly, Resource Erectors (opens in a new tab), a mining recruitment agency, maintains “thousands of relationships with mining and minerals processing professionals” across North America – allowing them to fill roles like mine managers, mining engineers, metallurgists, maintenance supervisors, and safety experts for clients in remote or specialized operations.

General mining recruiters (e.g. Blue Signal Search (opens in a new tab) and CSG Talent (opens in a new tab)) also report that as demand for mining professionals grows, finding qualified talent is more competitive than ever, especially for niche skills in critical minerals mining.

In tandem with private headhunters, public-sector initiatives are working to expand the upstream talent pool. The Department of Energy (opens in a new tab) and several universities have launched programs to train the next generation of mining and mineral processing experts. For instance, the University of Wyoming’s School of Energy Resources (opens in a new tab) recently opened a Critical Minerals Leadership Academy (opens in a new tab) to prepare students in geology, mining engineering, and related fields as reported by Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx). In West Virginia, Concord University established a rare earth element analysis center to give students hands-on extraction experience. These efforts aim to replenish the ranks of mining engineers and geologists that recruiters can draw from. State-level partnerships are emerging as well (e.g., a Pennsylvania initiative to recover REEs from coal waste, involving Penn State and local economic developers), signaling regional recognition of the need for skilled labor in upstream REE projects, as cited in this media. 

Midstream: Processing & Refining Specialists

As REEx has reported, the midstream stage – refining concentrated ore into rare earth oxides, metals, and alloys – is a critical bottleneck for the U.S., largely due to a dearth of specialized chemical processing expertise.  New facilities (such as Lynas Corp’s Texas separation plant and expanded refining at Mountain Pass) will require chemical engineers, metallurgists, process control engineers, lab technicians, and solvent extraction plant operators. Unfortunately, these are exactly the roles where the U.S. “lacks trained specialists in rare earth processing (engineers, metallurgists, chemists)” after decades of relying on China’s expertise.

Experts on condition of anonymity have informed REEx that perhaps there are a couple of dozen experts in rare earth separation and refining in the U.S., Europe, and Japan collectively.  Meanwhile, in China, that number would be in the thousands.  Standing up a complex hydrometallurgical refinery without veteran staff risks delays and cost overruns, and midstream projects are already struggling to find talent amid a nationwide shortage of 600,000 industrial workers as of 2023, as we have reported.

Recruiting firms are addressing midstream needs by leveraging global talent networks and targeting adjacent industries. Large technical staffing agencies like NES Fircroft (opens in a new tab) (with 20+ years in mining recruitment) are adept at sourcing, processing, and recruiting metallurgy professionals worldwide. NES Fircroft notes it has discipline-specific recruiters for mining, covering Processing & Metallurgy among other verticals – a sign that firms are actively hunting for hydrometallurgy engineers and chemists who are in short supply domestically. Similarly, Davalyn Corporation’s (opens in a new tab) rare earth practice extends into “REE mining and processing” and “technology innovation in REE extraction,” indicating they place candidates in chemical process roles critical to refining. These recruiting firms often must look beyond traditional talent pools; industry experts predict that America may need to recruit foreign specialists in the short term to staff new processing plants, until U.S. workers can be trained. This could involve hiring seasoned rare-earth chemists and engineers from Asia or Australia – something REEx analysts and the Bipartisan Policy Center have suggested as a stopgap measure.

On the public side, workforce development programs are being crafted to support midstream hiring. Federal and state governments are beginning to fund training specific to critical mineral processing. For example, Concord University’s program (mentioned above) exposes students to extraction chemistry, and Purdue University-linked startup ReElement Technologies (opens in a new tab) in Indiana is partnering with Ivy Tech Community College to create a tailored training pipeline for its refining and recycling facilities. By the time ReElementTechnology’s (opens in a new tab) new plant, which aims to produce high-purity rare earth oxides and hire over 300 workers, is fully operational, the goal is to have local chemists and technicians ready to step into those specialized roles, as reported by REEx.

Government incentives (similar to how the CHIPS Act earmarked $200M for semiconductor workforce training) have been proposed to boost critical minerals education and apprenticeships. Such policies would directly aid recruiters and employers by enlarging the pool of qualified midstream candidates over the coming years.

Downstream: Manufacturing & Magnet AssemblyRoles

The downstream segment – magnet manufacturing and related component production – presents perhaps the biggest workforce challenge. Until recently, the U.S. had virtually no domestic production of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets, meaning very few American workers have hands-on experience making them reports REEx.

As companies like MP Materials build magnet factories (e.g., a large facility in Fort Worth, Texas, aiming for 10,000 tons/year output by 2028) and startups like Noveon Magnetics (opens in a new tab) pilot smaller lines, an entire magnet manufacturing workforce must be trained from scratch.  Key positions include materials scientists and magnetic engineers (to develop magnet alloys and processes), manufacturing engineers for powder metallurgy, CNC machinists and assembly technicians (to cut, press, and finish magnets), quality assurance specialists, and skilled trades like electricians and millwrights to maintain the specialized equipment.

Private recruiting firms have begun focusing on this nascent talent market. Davalyn Corporation, for instance, is actively placing candidates in downstream roles – they have advertised positions such as CNC Machinists and Production Supervisors for rare-earth magnet production facilities. (This makes sense, as many magnet-related jobs overlap with advanced manufacturing skills in machining and metallurgy.) Other recruiting firms with manufacturing expertise are also adapting to meet demand. Firms that traditionally placed automotive or aerospace manufacturing talent are now seeking candidates who can be upskilled to work with powder metallurgy and sintering furnaces used in magnet making. Davalyn notes that the REE industry demands a unique blend of technical and environmental skills, and its recruiters leverage their global reach to find candidates aligned with these needs.

However, given how specialized magnet production is, companies are not relying on recruiters alone – they’re also investing in in-house training and partnerships to build the workforce. A notable example is the collaboration between MP Materials and Apple: Apple’s recent $500M commitment to buy U.S.-made rare earth magnets includes support for workforce training at MP’s Texas magnet plant. As reported via Dallas Innovates (opens in a new tab), the two companies have announced plans to “provide training to develop the workforce needed, building an entirely new pool of U.S. talent and expertise in magnet manufacturing”. This kind of industry-led upskilling complements the efforts of recruiters by creating more talent for them to place. Likewise, regional economic groups are helping connect employers to local workers. In the Alliance Texas development (home to MP’s factory in Fort Worth), a dedicated workforce center offers recruitment and career placement services to help staff high-tech manufacturing operations in the area. And in Pennsylvania, where a magnet supply chain cluster is being explored, existing manufacturing labor (e.g., steelworkers) could be retrained for magnet production roles, providing a new talent pool for recruiters to tap.

The overall manufacturing labor shortage in the U.S. adds urgency to these efforts. Nationwide, manufacturing job openings are expected to reach 2.1 million unfilled positions by 2030. Without targeted training, magnet factories may struggle to hire enough machinists, technicians, and engineers with expertise in rare-earth materials. Recruiters thus play a critical role in identifying candidates with transferable skills (for example, machinists from the automotive sector or oil & gas equipment technicians in Texas) and placing them in magnet manufacturing after additional specialized training. This cross-industry recruiting and upskilling is a key strategy to build the downstream workforce quickly.

Recycling & “Urban Mining”: Emerging Talent Needs

An often-overlooked segment is rare earth recycling – recovering REEs from end-of-life electronics, EV motors, wind turbine magnets, and other products. This “urban mining” requires a skilled workforce that blends expertise in chemical processing, materials science, and recycling operations. Key roles include chemical process engineers (to develop extraction methods for recycled materials), recycling plant operators/technicians, materials scientists specializing in secondary recovery, and logistics experts to manage the collection of e-waste and scrap. As with other segments, there is competition for these skills – recycling companies must compete with both the mining industry and the broader recycling/waste management industry for qualified people.

Recruiting for recycling roles is just beginning. A few companies are leading the way – for example, ReElement Technologies (an arm of American Resources Corp.) is opening a new critical materials recycling plant in Indiana, aiming to hire 300+ employees to produce high-purity recycled rare earth oxides. To staff such facilities, recruiters look for candidates with backgrounds in chemical engineering, metallurgy, or industrial recycling. Often, this means targeting talent from industries such as battery recycling, metal refining, or even petrochemicals, who can adapt to rare-earth recovery.

We also see public-private partnerships here: ReElement has partnered with Ivy Tech Community College (opens in a new tab) to train local workers in the specific techniques of critical material recycling. This ensures a pipeline of technicians and operators ready for hire as the plant ramps up, allowing recruiting firms to place these freshly trained workers into new roles. Additionally, federal R&D labs (like DOE’s Critical Materials Institute) are developing recycling processes, which are spawning a small community of U.S. experts in REE recycling. Recruiters and companies may seek to hire these researchers or encourage them to commercialize their know-how, further seeding the talent pool.

Workforce Development Initiatives Supporting Recruitment

Both private recruiting efforts and government/academic initiatives recognize that solving the rare earth talent shortage will require coordinated action. Recruiting firms can poach experienced individuals from other industries or even overseas; however, ultimately, the domestic talent pipeline must be expanded to sustain an entire mine-to-magnet supply chain. There are several notable efforts underway:

• Academic & Vocational Programs: As mentioned, universities (Wyoming, Penn State, West Virginia’s Concord, etc.) are launching specialized programs in critical minerals. At the community college level, trade programs in mining regions (e.g., California’s Mojave Desert near Mountain Pass, or rural Wyoming) and manufacturing hubs (Texas, Indiana, Pennsylvania) are being developed to teach practical skills for REE extraction and processing. These programs directly feed into the hiring pipeline, giving recruiters more qualified entry-level candidates to place in internships and junior roles.
• Industry Partnerships: Companies are increasingly teaming with schools and local workforce boards to create “earn-and-learn” apprenticeship models. We see this in Indiana with Ivy Tech and ReElement, and in Texas with MP Materials partnering with AllianceTexas, as well as major customers like Apple, for workforce training. Such partnerships often include commitments to hire graduates, which helps recruiting firms by clearly signaling where demand will be. AllianceTexas (a large industrial hub) has even established a resource center to help with recruitment and career placement for companies in its development, underscoring the emphasis on building a local talent base for rare earth manufacturing.
• Policy and Incentives: Policymakers are exploring ways to support the development of critical minerals talent. Experts at Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx) and elsewhere have called for a coordinated national strategy, under the CHIPS Act, to fund scholarships, curriculum updates, and training consortia in mining and materials engineering. Proposed measures include incentives for companies to invest in in-house training, fast-tracking visas to recruit international experts for knowledge transfer, and exchange programs with allied countries (like Australia or Japan, which have REE expertise) to bolster U.S. know-how quickly. These strategies acknowledge that in the immediate term, recruiters may need to look abroad for specific skill sets, while in the long term, building domestic human capital is paramount.
• Transferring Skills from Other Industries: A key recommendation is to leverage existing skilled labor in adjacent industries. Recruiters are increasingly targeting professionals from oil & gas, automotive, aerospace, and mining of other commodities (gold, copper, etc.) since they often possess relevant technical skills or can be upskilled. For example, an experienced petrochemical process engineer might be recruited to run a solvent-extraction circuit in a rare earth refinery, or a laid-off oilfield worker retrained as a mineral processing technician. Programs in states like Wyoming and Pennsylvania are exploring retraining displaced workers (e.g., coal miners, steel workers) for rare earth jobs, which recruiting firms can then place into the growing projects.

In summary, recruiting firms in the rare earth sector are focusing on all links of the value chain – from headhunting mining engineers and metallurgists for new extraction projects, to sourcing chemical process experts for refineries, to building networks of manufacturing talent for magnet plants and recycling operations. Firms like Davalyn Corporation have even created dedicated REE recruiting practices to serve this market, and major mining/minerals recruiters are expanding their reach to cover critical minerals globally. At the same time, government and industry collaborations are laying the groundwork for a larger domestic workforce through education and training, which will greatly aid recruitment in the coming years.

Ultimately, closing the talent gap requires both aggressive recruitment and robust workforce development. The U.S. is treating the rare earth supply chain as a strategic priority, and that extends to talent. As one analysis noted, rebuilding an independent mine-to-magnet pipeline is “as much a human capital challenge as an infrastructure one”, meaning investment in people is just as crucial as investment in mines and factories. Recruiting firms are on the front lines of this effort – identifying and placing the specialized professionals needed – but they will succeed only if supported by policies and programs that produce a steady flow of new engineers, scientists, and technicians ready to enter the REE industry. The consensus is that the time to build this workforce is now, before the next wave of rare earth projects comes online and finds itself shorthanded.

Sources:

• Rare Earth Exchanges – “Ramping Up the American Rare Earth Workforce for an Ex-China Supply Chain” (July 2025), analysis of U.S. rare earth talent shortages and development programsrareearthexchanges.comrareearthexchanges.comrareearthexchanges.comrareearthexchanges.comrareearthexchanges.comrareearthexchanges.comrareearthexchanges.com.
• Davalyn Corporation – Rare Earth Elements Recruitment Solutions, firm profile highlighting specialized REE recruiting servicesdavalyncorp.com (opens in a new tab)davalyncorp.com (opens in a new tab)davalyncorp.comdavalyncorp.com (opens in a new tab) and examples of roles filled (CNC Machinist, etc.)davalyncorp.com (opens in a new tab).
• Resource Erectors – Mining Recruitment Services, description of mining/processing roles filled via its candidate networkresource-erectors.com (opens in a new tab).
• Blue Signal Search – Mining Recruiting overview, noting high demand for mining professionals and roles placed (e.g. Mining Engineers, Geology Managers)bluesignal.com (opens in a new tab).
• NES Fircroft – Mining Recruitment, detailing global staffing capabilities in exploration, engineering, processing & metallurgy recruitmentnesfircroft.com (opens in a new tab).
• Dallas Innovates – Apple/MP Materials $500M Rare Earth Magnet Deal, noting plans to train a new U.S. magnet manufacturing workforce in Fort Worthdallasinnovates.com (opens in a new tab).
• Rare Earth Exchanges – Analysis and podcasts on regional initiatives (Pennsylvania, Wyoming) and policy recommendations for critical minerals workforce (e.g. AllianceTexas skills hub, international expert recruitment, and training grants)rareearthexchanges.comrareearthexchanges.com.