October 7th, 2026 Local News
Madison Co., Mo. (KFMO) - US Strategic Metals has announced a proposed joint venture with Ionic Rare Earths USA to develop rare earth permanent magnet recycling capacity at USSM’s 1,750-acre processing site near Fredericktown, Missouri.
The companies have signed a joint venture term sheet that replaces a memorandum of understanding signed at the Australian Embassy in Washington, D.C., in November 2025.
Under the non-binding term sheet, USSM and Ionic Rare Earths USA would form a 50-50 joint venture to develop one or more magnet recycling facilities as part of an integrated critical minerals campus in Southeast Missouri.
The proposed initial investment is $100 million for construction of recycling facilities for neodymium-iron-boron, or NdFeB, and samarium-cobalt, or SmCo, magnets.
USSM would provide $95 million in funding, while the two companies would each contribute $2.5 million in equity. The initial $5 million is expected to fund completion of Front End Engineering Design and accelerate demonstration-scale magnet recycling.
The proposed facilities would process recycled NdFeB and SmCo magnets, along with magnet scrap. The joint venture also plans to evaluate the recovery of additional heavy rare earth elements, including europium, gadolinium, holmium, erbium, thulium, lutetium and yttrium.
Why Fredericktown?
USSM's processing site covers approximately 1,750 acres in the Southeast Missouri mining district and is already fully permitted.
The company is developing the site to produce a range of critical minerals and materials, including alloy-grade cobalt, antimony sulfide, nickel metal, lithium carbonate, copper cathode and rare earth elements.
USSM says adding magnet recycling would allow separated rare earth oxide production to become part of an existing multi-metallic processing campus rather than requiring development of a separate greenfield site.
The proposed partnership also follows the United States-Australia Framework for Securing of Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths, signed by President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on October 21, 2025.
How the Joint Venture Would Operate
The proposed joint venture would be equally owned by USSM and Ionic Rare Earths USA.
A five-member board would oversee the venture, with USSM appointing three managers and Ionic USA appointing two.
Ionic USA is expected to chair the Technical Operations Committee and have primary responsibility for technical, operational and commercial matters, including securing feedstock for the recycling facilities.
Ionic Technologies, a Belfast-based subsidiary of Ionic Rare Earths, is proposed to provide a non-exclusive license covering magnets, magnet scrap and other compounds containing heavy rare earth elements.
USSM CEO and co-founder Stacy W. Hastie said the agreement represents a major step toward establishing domestic supply chains for critical minerals and heavy rare earths.
Ionic Rare Earths Executive Chairman Brett Lynch said the company intends to build its first U.S. facility in Missouri as part of efforts to develop a secure rare earth supply chain.
Next Steps
The companies are working toward definitive agreements, which they intend to complete by the end of 2026.
The proposed joint venture remains conditional on the completion of those agreements, the capital contributions from both companies and additional documentation and other matters being finalized.
The companies also note there is no certainty that the matters outlined in the term sheet will ultimately take effect.