Dive Brief:
- Rare earth magnet manufacturer Vulcan Elements and state officials announced Tuesday that the company selected Benson, North Carolina, for a $918.1 million facility, according to Gov. Josh Stein’s press release.
- The site will span 1 million square feet and feature 10,000 metric tons of manufacturing capacity, according to Vulcan’s press release.
- The facility will also create 1,000 jobs, including administrative, engineering and production roles, according to Stein’s press release.
Dive Insight:
The site selection follows Vulcan’s $1.4 billion partnership with the U.S. government and rare-earth and critical-minerals refiner ReElement Technologies, announced in early November.
The partnership aims to scale and strengthen Vulcan and ReElement’s vertically integrated rare-earth magnet supply chain domestically, according to the Nov. 3 press release.
Vulcan manufactures sintered permanent neodymium-iron-boron magnets that convert electricity in motion, according to the company’s press release. They are deemed essential in advanced machines and electronic devices, including artificial intelligence data centers, semiconductor fabrication equipment, satellites, drones, robotics, electric motors, and most military platforms…