Funding for the Caremag Lacq rare earth refining and recycling hub will come from Japanese and French investors.

French owned Carester has secured a €216M (US$235.4M) funding package via its subsidiary Caremag, to construct and commission a rare earth refining and recycling facility in Lacq, France.  The funding package is provided by a consortium of Japanese investors (JOGMEC and Iwatani Corporation) providing €110M (US$119.9M), with the French government providing the remaining €106M (US$115.5M).  The planned facility at Lacq is scheduled to have a capacity to process 5.0ktpy ‘mining concentrates’ with a further 2.0ktpy capacity to recycle NdFeB magnet materials.  Output from the plant is expected to contain 600tpy terbium and dysprosium oxide in addition to 800tpy neodymium and praseodymium oxide.  With commissioning scheduled for late 2026, the facility would be the largest producer of heavy rare earth products within Europe upon reaching capacity.

The investment by JOGMEC and Iwatani Corporation is a loan and equity deal, which also includes a long-term supply agreement with Japanese purchasers for heavy rare earth oxide products.  Investment via the French government is a combination of finance from the ‘France Relance’ and ‘France 2030’ project calls, as well as a Green Industry tax credit.  Additional ‘top-up’ financing was also provided by the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region and TotalEnergies through its Induslacq platform, along with equity contributions from Carester and its employees.

The investment in Caremag by the French government represents a significant step towards meeting rare earth refining and recycling targets laid out in the EU Critical Raw Materials Act, though additional production will be required from other EU sources to meet overall targets by 2030.