Highlights

• DTEC MMT is establishing the first U.S.-aligned rare earth element supply chain from Malaysia.
• The initiative is led by COO Milan Perlly, who returned to his mining hometown to redirect critical minerals from China to American allies.
• The company seeks to become the only non-China firm separating ionic clay rare earths to pure metals.
• DTEC MMT purports to access a cleaner U.S.-derived technology to process all 17 rare earth elements (REEs), including Nd, Pr, Dy, Tb, and Y.
• With U.S. financing support, DTEC MMT plans full separation capability in America by 2026.
• The company aims to ramp up to 300 metric tons annually by 2027 to supply U.S. manufacturers and strategic stockpiles.

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — [Oct. 25, 2025] — DTEC Mineral & Metal Technology Sdn Bhd (“DTEC MMT”) today shared the story behind its groundbreaking plan to establish a U.S.-aligned rare earth supply chain — a plan rooted in one man’s return to his hometown mining community and a mission to rebalance the world’s access to critical minerals. As Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx) reported, this venture is on the verge of rare earth disruption, establishing what the principals hope to be the  first combination Malaysian-American rare earth mining and processing venture.

Milan Perlly, Chief Operating Officer of DTEC MMT, was born in the Malaysian state once famous for its iron ore mines — a place where generations of families built their lives around the earth’s hidden resources. As global demand for clean-energy materials overtook iron ore, Milan saw a familiar pattern repeating: Malaysia was again rich in what the world needed, but almost all of it was being exported to China for processing.

Milan Perlly at a key mine site in rural Malaysia

“I grew up around the sounds of dredges and ore washing,” Milan recalls. “When I came back in 2018, the same land was producing something far more valuable — rare earths — but none of it stayed here. That’s when we realized we had to connect Malaysia’s resources to America’s technology and rebuild the balance.”

After returning as a U.S. citizen to Malaysia in 2018, following the election of President Trump and renewed focus on U.S. supply-chain security, Milan began discussions with local business owners and state officials about re-establishing a U.S.-influenced rare earth value chain. Those early conversations evolved into today’s DTEC MMT initiative: a vertically integrated, majority U.S.-owned company developing the capability to extract, separate, and produce high-purity rare earth metals from ionic clay deposits — the same resource type that underpins China’s global dominance in rare earths.

DTEC MMT is the only non-China company seeking to invest to demonstrate the separation of ionic clay rare earths to pure metals. Its pilot line, operating outside Malaysia under an exclusive technology license, can separate all 17 rare earth elements — including both light and heavy REEs such as Nd, Pr, Dy, Tb, and Y — using cleaner, higher-yield processes derived from U.S. ion-exchange science first developed in the 1940s and refined with modern engineering.

“The technology started in the United States, improved in China, and now we’re closing the loop,” Milan said. “We’re bringing it back home — not as a copy, but as a better, cleaner, faster system ready to serve both nations.”

With strategic investment and support from U.S. financing programs, DTEC MMT aims to establish full separation and metallization capability in the United States by 2026, directly supplying U.S. manufacturers of advanced technology devices. The company plans to ramp to 300 metric tons of rare earth metals per year by 2027, redirecting material now bound for China toward U.S. strategic stockpiles.

DTEC MMT in business in Malaysia—a rare earth breakthrough for USA

“Malaysia has the land, the know-how, and among the world’s richest ionic clay deposits,” Milan added. “What we’re doing is ensuring that the benefits flow through allies, not adversaries.”

About DTEC Mineral & Metal Technology

DTEC Mineral & Metal Technology Sdn Bhd is a Malaysia-based, majority U.S.-owned company developing a vertically integrated rare earth supply chain. The company combines Malaysian resource access with U.S. metallurgical engineering to deliver secure, scalable production of high-purity rare earth metals for allied markets.

For persons interested in contacting

Media Contact:
Milan Perlly
Chief Operating Officer
DTEC Mineral & Metal Technology Sdn Bhd, Malaysia
milanperlly@icloud.com
+1-804-357-9476 (USA)