Trafalgar sets sights on rare earth magnet plant in India

Indian engineering and procurement firm Trafalgar announced plans to build India’s first rare earth metals, alloy and magnet plant at the Metal Events 20th International Rare Earths Conference in Washington on Tuesday October 15

“The goal is to supply 20% of domestic demand for sintered NdFeB [neodymium iron boron] magnets in 2027,” Ian Higgins, Trafalgar’s founder and director, said.

High-performance sintered NdFeB magnets are used in the motors of electric and hybrid vehicles, along with other applications.

“There are many good reasons to set up a project in India — a large domestic market, highly skilled workforce and a fast-growing manufacturing sector,” he added.

Crucially, the project also has domestic political support. Indian state-owned rare earths producer Irel put out a call for expressions of interest in setting up a NdFeB magnet plant in 2020. Irel said it will supply separated rare earth oxides for the project, to create a fully vertically integrated supply chain for manufacturing NdFeB rare earth magnets for the automotive sector and samarium cobalt (SmCo) rare earth magnets for the defense sector.

Trafalgar has purchased a 45,000-square-meter site in the western province of Gujarat and funded phase 1 of the project. This is scheduled for completion in 2026, with production capacity for 100 tonnes per year of neodymium-praseodymium metal and 115 tpy of SmCo alloy, with first production of sintered NdFeB magnets anticipated shortly afterward.

“The biggest challenge is developing a cost-competitive India-centric rare earth magnet business that can compete with Chinese production,” Higgins said.

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