USA Rare Earth (USAR) has selected Bailey Industrial Park, located in Cherokee County, South Carolina, as the site for its new magnet manufacturing and metal refining facility. The company operates across the entire rare-earth value chain, from mining to magnet manufacturing. It has made an investment of approximately $1.2 billion for this project.
The project significantly expands domestic production capacity for refined rare earth metals and sintered neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) permanent magnets, thereby assisting in reducing American dependence on Chinese rare earth supply chains.
USAR CEO Barbara Humpton said, “Cherokee County is the next critical link in the rare earth and magnet value chain we’re building across the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and around the globe. South Carolina offered the workforce, the infrastructure, and the partners we needed to move quickly. With this investment, we’re bringing home the advanced manufacturing capabilities that America and its allies depend on, from the factory floor to the front lines.”
Rare earth elements play a crucial role in a wide range of strategic applications, including energy, transportation, artificial intelligence, and aerospace and defense systems.
Site selection and facility scope
According to the USAR, the site selection was based on a comprehensive multi-state evaluation process that took into account parameters such as access to grants, tax credits and exemptions, reliable and affordable power, transportation infrastructure, a skilled workforce, and proximity to defense and aerospace customers.
This upcoming facility will complement the company’s existing magnet manufacturing facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma, which commissioned its first commercial production line in March 2026. Both these facilities will be part of the company’s integrated, mine-to-magnet value chain.
It spans the Round Top heavy rare earth mining, processing, and separation project in Sierra Blanca, Texas; a R&D processing and separation facility in Wheat Ridge, Colorado; the planned acquisition of the Serra Verde mining and processing operation in Goiás, Brazil; the LCM metal making and strip casting facilities in Cheshire, United Kingdom; and in Lacq, France.
The Blacksburg facility will come online in 2028. It is targeting a a production capacity of 6,400 metric tons per annum (tpa) of NdFeB rare-earth magnets and 5,000 tpa of strip-cast metal and alloys. The current production capacity of the Stillwater facility is 600 tpa of NdFeB magnets. It is planned for expansion, after which its output will increase to 3600 tpa of NdFeB magnets and 5000 tpa of strip-cast, metal, and alloy.
The company’s combined domestic production capacity is expected to reach 10,000 tpa of NdFeB rare-earth magnets and 10,000 tpa of heavy rare-earth strip-cast metal and alloy in the late 2020s to early 2030s.
Strategic context for domestic rare earth processing
The United States currently lacks sufficient domestic separation and processing capacity to convert the rare earth ore into the purified oxides and metals used in permanent magnets. According to the International Energy Agency in 2024, China accounted for 60% of global mined production of magnet rare earths and 91% of global refined output.
This supply concentration has drawn sustained attention from U.S. policymakers. Several legislative measures, including provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, have created financial incentives for companies to establish domestic critical mineral supply chains.
USAR estimates the US magnet market to reach 100,000 tons in 2035, a 2x growth from 2025. Its broader strategy for meet this demand and ensure supply chain security includes targeting a mining output of 10,700 tpa from its Round Top and Serra Verde Phase 1 (post-acquisition) deposits.
These contain a range of heavy rare-earth elements, a category that is generally harder to source outside China than the more abundant light rare-earth elements. The total targeted mining output is slated to increase to 17,100 tpa post the commissioning of Serra Verde Phase 2. The total refining capacity from US-based facilities is slated to increase to 8000 tpa.