Highlights

• Aclara Resources is developing an integrated mine-to-magnet pathway for heavy rare earths (dysprosium, terbium) from ionic clay deposits in Brazil and Chile, addressing the West's critical midstream separation bottleneck dominated by China.
• The company partners with Virginia Tech on separation pilots and Argonne National Lab on AI-enabled digital twins, while hosting magnet manufacturers eVAC and Vacuumschmelze to build vertically integrated supply chains.
• Aclara's Project Dynamo in Louisiana represents a $277M commercial separation facility targeting mid-2028 production to supply over 75% of U.S. Dy/Tb demand for EVs using its Circular Mineral Harvesting extraction method.

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Rare Earth Exchanges™ (REEx) dropped its latest episode (opens in a new tab) of the REEx YouTube podcast featuring Hugh Broadhurst (opens in a new tab), Chief Operating Officer of Aclara Resources (TSX: ARA), a developer advancing an integrated mine-to-magnet pathway aimed at securing dysprosium (Dy), terbium (Tb), and other magnet-critical rare earths from ionic clay deposits in Brazil (Carina) (opens in a new tab) and Chile (Penco Module). (opens in a new tab)

Hugh Broadhurst, COO

In the discussion, Broadhurst frames the heavy rare earth problem in plain language: the West can announce mines, funds, and “critical minerals strategies” all day—but the real choke point is midstream separation and refining, where China remains the dominant center of gravity. Aclara’s thesis is to control both ends of the chain: secure feedstock from friendly jurisdictions and build a U.S.-based separation platform that can deliver high-purity products customers can actually use.

How difficult will it be to extract the heavy rare earth goods economically?

From Clayto Chemistry: “Circular Mineral Harvesting,” Not a Legacy Leach

Aclara describes its extraction method as Circular Mineral Harvesting, designed to reduce its environmental footprint through high input recycling. Virginia Tech has described the approach as minimizing impacts by recirculating water and reducing the need for blasting/crushing/milling relative to hard-rock pathways.

For REEx, that matters because ionic clay is a loaded phrase in the market. Aclara is explicitly trying to prove that “clay” can be industrial, compliant, and scalable—without inheriting the worst reputational baggage of legacy in-situ practices elsewhere.

Virginia Tech + Argonne: Pilots, Digital Twins, and the Midstream Sprint

Aclara’s separation story is not theoretical. The company has partnered with Virginia Tech (opens in a new tab) around a rare earth separation pilot plant at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center (opens in a new tab), intended to validate Aclara’s flowsheet against its specific feed chemistry and accelerate scale-up readiness.

Aclara has also entered a CRADA with Argonne National Laboratory (opens in a new tab) to develop an AI-enabled digital twin (opens in a new tab) of its heavy rare earth solvent extraction process using Argonne’s SolventX modeling platform (opens in a new tab), aiming to improve simulation,optimization, and predictive control as operations move from pilot to commercial.

Magnet Partnerships

On November 7, 2025, Aclara Resources announced (opens in a new tab) it hosted representatives from eVAC Magnetics and Germany-based Vacuumschmelze (VAC) at its Carina Project pilot plant in Brazil, underscoring a growing collaboration to build a vertically integrated, ESG-focused rare earth supply chain for permanent magnets. The visit signaled alignment between upstream heavy rare earth development in South America and downstream magnet manufacturing, reinforcing Aclara’s strategy to connect its ionic clay feedstock to Western magnet producers seeking a secure, traceable supply.

Louisiana: Project Dynamo and a Race to Be Ready for 2028-29 (scale out)

Broadhurst confirmed Aclara’s plan to build a commercial separation facility in Louisiana, with the company formally naming the project “Project Dynamo.” In Aclara’s own shareholder communications, Project Dynamo is described as a ~US$277 million investment, designed to supply more than 75% of U.S. Dy/Tb demand for EVs, supported by Louisiana incentives, with the separation platform timed to align with expected mid-2028 feed availability.

Why REEx Is Watching: Serious Backers, Serious Execution DNA

Upstream mining is hard. Midstream separation is harder. What makes Aclara worth tracking is that it is treating heavy rare earths like what they are: a specialty chemicals business at an industrial scale, built on pilots, partners, and process control. Aclara also discloses strategic backing from major South American mining interests, including Hochschild and CAP S.A., alongside a broader vertical integration push that extends into metals and alloys through its Chile-linked platform.

Watch the episode: S2 E55 (opens in a new tab) “Aclara Resources: Pioneering Ionic Clay Extraction.”