By: Journal Record Staff February 13, 2023 0

USA Rare Earth has set in motion plans to open a first-of-its-kind, $100 million magnet manufacturing facility at 100 W. Airport Rd. in Stillwater. (Courtesy photo)

USA Rare Earth, a New York-based company heavily invested in a manufacturing facility in Stillwater, has announced that former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has joined the company as a strategic adviser.

USARE has taken steps to position itself as the leading domestic supplier of heavy rare earth elements and magnets critical to advanced manufacturing. The company owns a rare earth and critical minerals deposit in West Texas and last year announced plans to begin magnet production at a first-of-its-kind, $100 million manufacturing facility in Stillwater. It said the Oklahoma site, set to open this year, will employ more than 100 people.

In adding Pompeo as an adviser, USARE Chief Executive Officer Tom Schneberger said the company will benefit from the experience of a veteran of both high-level government and the aerospace industry. Prior to his appointment as the nation’s 70th secretary of state under former President Donald Trump, Pompeo served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

“We are honored to welcome Secretary Pompeo to our team. His U.S. government service combined with his aerospace manufacturing background provides a valuable perspective as we create a fully integrated U.S.-based supply chain,” Schneberger said. “(He) understands the importance of supply chain resiliency and the critical need for a domestic solution.”

Rare earth elements and magnets are essential components in the manufacturing of smartphones and other consumer electronics, electric vehicle motors, wind turbines and other products related to the green energy transition, high-tech medical equipment, and products used for aerospace, defense and other industry applications.

“I am pleased to join the USA Rare Earth team as we build a fully integrated, U.S.-based supply chain for rare earth elements and permanent magnets,” Pompeo said in a statement. “USA Rare Earth’s supply is critically important to reduce foreign dependencies while creating additional American jobs.”

USARE has stated plans to bring into domestic production nearly half of 50 critical minerals identified by the U.S. Geological Survey as essential to the nation’s economy and security. The company’s Stillwater facility is to be a vital link in the first “mine-to-magnet” supply chain outside of China.

USARE said it will mine lithium and other minerals at its Round Top heavy rare earth and critical minerals project site in Hudspeth County, Texas, that minerals will be processed in Colorado and that magnet manufacturing locations will be in Stillwater and North Carolina.

Last year, the Stillwater Development Authority approved $7 million in incentives to support the company’s plans to move into a vacant commercial building at 100 W. Airport Rd. in Stillwater. The company said it would begin production in 2023, creating more than 100 new jobs and generating more than $6.6 million in wages once fully operational.

“Currently, the United States, European Union, Japan, and much of the developed world is largely reliant on China for critical rare-earth element production,” USARE President Thayer Smith said. “Our goal with this project is to advance U.S. manufacturing capacity by establishing the first vertically integrated domestic supply chain for rare earth elements, and we are excited to be working in Oklahoma.”

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