Case Western Reserve Targets U.S. Dysprosium-Terbium Metal Production With DOE-Backed Electrolysis

Highlights

• CWRU's patented chloride-based molten-salt electrolysis technology selected under a $10M DOE Critical Materials Innovation Hub initiative to produce dysprosium and terbium metals domestically.
• Partners include Energy Fuels and MP Materials for feedstock and separation, plus Ames and Lawrence Livermore national labs, creating a credible commercialization pathway.
• The project targets the oxide-to-metal conversion bottleneck in the rare earth magnet supply chain, a step where China still holds dominant global advantage.
• Energy Fuels' acquisition of ASM—which already has commercial NdPr metallization and NdFeB alloy capacity—sets a real-world benchmark CWRU's electrochemical route must eventually meet.
• Key investor metrics to watch: metal purity, energy intensity, throughput, and whether the process handles real-world feedstocks economically at industrial scale.