Highlights

• University of Birmingham-linked facility at Tyseley Energy Park revives UK rare-earth magnet manufacturing using Hydrogen Processing of Magnet Scrap (HPMS).
• Scaling from pilot batches to 100+ tonnes annually with 90% CO₂ savings compared to virgin production.
• Operated by HyProMag (majority owned by Mkango Resources).
• The facility restores the complete domestic supply chain, including recovery, alloying, sintering, and reuse.
• Establishes UK's first industrial-scale sintered magnet production in over 25 years.
• While output remains modest relative to global EV and wind turbine demand, the facility provides strategic resilience.
• Serves as a proving ground for traceable, low-carbon magnets aligned with the UK's Vision 2035 Critical Minerals Strategy.

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A new rare-earth magnet recycling facility linked to the University of Birmingham has opened at Tyseley Energy Park (opens in a new tab) in the West Midlands, reviving a capability the UK effectively lost more than 25 years ago. Using hydrogen-based magnet recycling, known as Hydrogen Processing of Magnet Scrap (HPMS), the facility extracts and reprocesses rare-earth magnets from end-of-life products—often without full mechanical disassembly—turning waste into a domestic source of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets. For a country heavily dependent on imports, particularly from China, this is more than a laboratory milestone. It is a strategic industrial signal.

Tyseley Energy Park

What Holds Up Under the Microscope

Several claims are well supported. HPMS is a validated UK-developed technology, originating from long-running research at the University of Birmingham, that can substantially reduce environmental impact versus primary mining, separation, and magnet production. Reported ~90% CO₂ savings relative to virgin production are consistent with published life-cycle assessments, assuming suitable recycled feedstock.

The scale-up reported in multiple media, including Machinery Market, (opens in a new tab) is also real in the UK context. Moving from 50–100 kg pilot batches to ~100 tonnes per year on a single shift—with potential to exceed 300 tonnes on multi-shift operation—represents a meaningful re-entry into sintered magnet manufacturing. Importantly, this facility is not limited to powders; it restores finished magnet production, a capability absent in the UK for decades.

This aligns directly with the UK’s Vision 2035 Critical Minerals Strategy, which prioritizes resilience, circular supply chains, and domestic processing over speculative mining.

Where the Narrative Leans Forward

This facility does not make the UK magnet-independent. Even at full utilization, output represents a small fraction of global NdFeB demand, which is expanding rapidly with EVs, wind turbines, robotics, and automation. Recycling is inherently feedstock-limited; without sufficient end-of-life magnets, throughput cannot scale indefinitely. Political claims around “hundreds of jobs” and sweeping supply-chain de-risking should be viewed as aspirational, not yet proven.

Another quiet constraint remains: heavy rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium, critical for high-temperature magnets, are structurally scarce and far harder to recover at scale from scrap alone.

Who Owns the Facility and the Technology

The facility is operated by HyProMag, (opens in a new tab) a UK-based company that has licensed the HPMS technology from the University of Birmingham. HyProMag is majority owned by Mkango Resources (opens in a new tab), a rare earths developer advancing both primary mining and recycling assets across the UK, Europe, and North America. HyProMag’s strategy centers on building a commercial circular magnet supply chain that combines recycling, alloying, and sintered magnet manufacturing, with Tyseley serving as its first scaled industrial anchor.

Why This Still Matters

What’s notable is not raw tonnage—it’s capability. The UK now has every major link of a rare-earth magnet supply chain onshore: recovery, alloying, sintering, and reuse. As an open-access facility, it also functions as a proving ground for OEMs, defense suppliers, and clean-tech firms seeking traceable, low-carbon magnets.

In a world where rare-earth risk is less about geology and more about processing choke points, this facility is a modest but serious step toward strategic adulthood.

Citation: University of Birmingham announcements; Innovate UK; UK; Government Vision 2035: Critical Minerals Strategy (Nov 2025); Machinery Market (Jan 20, 2026); Mkango Resources (opens in a new tab) (Jan 15, 2026)