Author: Dr Jack Howley, Technology Analyst at IDTechEx
The EU, USA, Japan, and numerous other regions identify rare earth elements as critical materials due to growing supply risks and their increasing economic importance in the green transition. Although critical rare earth elements have diverse technology applications – including in lighting, catalysis, and batteries – permanent magnets have become central to rare earth supply and demand challenges.
Permanent magnets, which contain critical neodymium, praseodymium, terbium, and dysprosium elements, are widely used in electric vehicle motors and wind turbine energy generators. As rare earth element use consolidates in these magnet applications, end-of-life magnets are set to become a key alternative source of critical rare earth materials to primary mineral sources. IDTechEx predicts that US$1.2B of critical rare earth elements may be recovered from secondary sources such as permanent magnet motors by 2045.
Why rare earth magnets are important
In 2023, magnet applications represented 29% of global rare earth demand by weight. Rare earth permanent magnets, namely neodymium …