Highlights

• Carester is a Lyon-based rare earth processing company founded in 2019.
• Over 250 years of combined industry expertise in rare earth technologies.
• Developing the Caremag facility in Lacq, France, for recycling magnet scrap and extracting heavy rare earths with superior environmental performance.
• Secured €216 million in financing.
• Established strategic partnerships with Solvay and Japanese investors.
• 10-year offtake contract with Stellantis.
• Positioned as a leading rare earth processor outside China.

---

Carester (opens in a new tab) is a Lyon-based rare earth processing company founded in 2019 by Frédéric Carencotte. Carencotte is a chemical engineer who spent 20 years atRhône-Poulenc/Rhodia (later Solvay) with 15 years focused on rare earths in France and China. He assembled a team of veteran engineers and scientists (many ex-Solvay/Rhodia), giving Carester over 250 years of combined rare earth experience. The firm is widely recognized as a leading expert in rare earth separation outside China, having advised global projects on designing and optimizing rare earth production facilities. Carester had about 38 employees as of 2024 and reported roughly €6 million in revenue that year, reflecting its early consulting business.

Technology and Projects

Carester began as a technical consultancy – a “preferred partner” for rare-earth companies – providing specialized process design and optimization services. It has supported rare earth supply chain projects worldwide (for example, assisting Energy Fuels’ US separation plans in 2021). Building on this expertise, Carester launched its own industrial project, Caremag, (opens in a new tab) to establish a rare earth refining plant in Lacq, France. Caremag will focus on recycling end-of-life magnet scrap and extracting heavy rare earths (like dysprosium and terbium) from mined concentrates using a process with unique environmental performance (far cleaner than conventional methods).

The Lacq facility reports Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx), aiming to become the Western world’s benchmark for heavy rare-earth separation and magnet recycling, aligning with Carester’s sustainability mission. It is slated to produce about 600 tonnes per year of dysprosium–terbium oxides (an estimated 15% of global heavy RE output) once fully operational in 2026, reports Fastmarkets, alongside ~800 tpy of neodymium–praseodymium oxide for magnets.

Caremag, Facility in development in Lacq, France

Funding and Partnerships

Carester has secured significant backing to realize its plans. In 2024, it signed a strategic partnership MOU with Solvay – the company that runs France’s legacy rare earth plant – to collaborate on magnet supply chain projects, combining Solvay’s industrial know-how with Carester’s recycling and process expertise. In March 2025, Carester’s subsidiary Caremag raised €216 million in financing to build the Lacq plant.

Half of this came from a Japanese partnership: state entity JOGMEC and Iwatani Corp. invested €110 million via a joint venture, Japan France Rare Earth Co. The other half was provided by the French government through grants, a green industry tax credit, and repayable advances. (Carester had earlier received €15 million from France’s recovery plan and €21.6 million under the France 2030 program.) Major industry players are also involved – for example, in late 2024, Stellantis (one of the world’s largest automakers) signed a 10-year offtake contract with Carester for 3,400+ tonnes of rare earth oxides, with over a third coming from recycled sources. Carester’s CEO noted that this multi-year supply deal validates the company’s unique combined approach to magnet recycling and ore processing.

Market Position and Rankings

Carester is positioned at the forefront of efforts to establish rare earth refining capacity outside China. Currently, only two companies (Lynas and MP Materials) produce separated magnet-grade oxides at scale, except China reports REEx. Carester’s upcoming Lacq facility – which will produce critical oxides (NdPr, Dy, Tb) with strong ESG credentials – is therefore highly anticipated. In Rare Earth Exchanges’ 2025 global processor rankings, Carester is highlighted as one of the top emerging rare earth refiners beyond China.

The rankings cited Carester (via its Caremag plant) for “gaining momentum” in building real oxide separation capacity in Europe, especially in heavy rare earths, a capability almost entirely dominated by China today.

Analysts note that Carester’s strength lies in its proven technical know-how, feedstock flexibility (recycling plus mined concentrates), government support, and secured end-user offtakes – all key factors in Rare Earth Exchanges’ scoring criteria. These advantages help explain why Carester is regarded as a top-ranked rare earth processor to watch, poised to take a leading position in our ranking. But Rare Earth Exchanges is monitoring for excellence in execution.

©!-- /wp:paragraph -->