The Aclara Project Plans To Add Separation Products Of Yttrium, Gadolinium And Samarium.

London, October 7th (Argus) - Canadian developer Aclara Resources is expanding its rare earth separation plant in Louisiana, USA, to increase production of yttrium, gadolinium and samarium to meet the growing demand for these rare earth elements in power generation, artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and aerospace industries.
Aclara previously designed the processing facility in Louisiana as Project Dynamo, originally planned to separate and produce neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium. The company also has mining projects in Brazil and Chile.
This expansion is mainly to meet the growing demand for gas-fired power generation driven by AI and cloud infrastructure. Yttrium can be used in high-temperature alloys required for gas turbines and is also applied in aerospace fields such as jet engines.
This expansion will enable Aclara's product portfolio to no longer be limited to the permanent magnet market. The permanent magnet market is the main source of demand for the company's other rare earth products.
Aclara has begun preliminary consultations with potential customers regarding the future supply of yttrium and other rare earth products from Project Dynamo, but no definitive underwriting agreements have been signed yet.
The company stated that yttrium accounts for approximately 50% of Aclara's rare earth composition at the Chilean Penco project and 30% at the Brazilian Carina project. According to the current technical report, these two projects can produce approximately 1,400 tons of mixed rare earth carbonates containing yttrium at full capacity each year.
Aclara has begun construction of additional solvent extraction units at its demonstration factory in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA, at Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center. Equipment for yttrium separation has arrived and is planned to be installed and debugged within the next few weeks, followed by the installation of gadolinium and samarium separation equipment.
These separation devices will use representative raw materials, whose composition corresponds to the mixed rare earth carbonates produced by Aclara from ion-type rare earth ore deposits in Chile and Brazil.
Project Dynamo has obtained state-level air emission permits and the basic engineering design is in the final stage. The company plans to start construction in the first quarter of 2027, but the plan still depends on the implementation of financing.