USA Rare Earth hopes to raise up to $500m in IPO MINING.com Editor | February 3, 2021 | 1:35 pm Markets News USA Rare Earth
Pini Althaus, CEO, USA Rare Earth. Image from USA Rare Earth. USA Rare Earth, a private company with ambitious plans for a domestic rare earths supply chain has hired bankers to explore going public in a deal that could value the strategic minerals company at more than $1 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter and documents seen by Reuters.
The company, which is developing the Round Top rare earths deposit in Texas, is considering an initial public offering (IPO) or going public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), though it does not plan to issue debt, according to the source and documents.
SIGN UP FOR THE MINING NEWS DIGEST INVESTORS ARE GROWING MORE INTERESTED IN EXPOSURE TO RARE EARTHS, 17 MINERALS USED TO BUILD ELECTRONICS
Any offering is expected to raise between $300 million to $500 million, which would be used in part to finance the Texas mine and processing facility. The company hopes to have it operating by 2023.
Investors are growing more interested in exposure to rare earths, 17 minerals used in certain military applications, ceramics, wind turbines, electric cars and medical equipment. China is the world’s largest producer and has threatened to stop exporting these minerals to the United States.
USA Rare Earth is the development and funding partner of the Round Top project. Lithium makes up about 30% of Round Top’s mineralized material. It also owns sintered rare earth magnet manufacturing equipment previously owned and operated by Hitachi Metals in North Carolina, and earlier this year opened a rare earth and critical minerals facility in Wheat Ridge, Colorado to commission a pilot plant.
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