Hertha Metals has achieved 99.95% (3N5) iron purity using fully domestic inputs, marking a major step towards establishing a US supply of high-purity iron for rare-earth magnet manufacturing. The company said the material meets the purity specification required by leading rare-earth magnet producers. The achievement comes as US manufacturers work to develop domestic sources of critical materials and reduce dependence on Chinese-origin magnets and related supply chains.
High-purity iron accounts for about 70% by weight of the neodymium magnets used in applications including electric vehicle motors, wind turbines and defence systems. The quality of the iron is important because even small quantities of impurities can affect the strength and durability of finished magnets.
Laureen Meroueh, CEO and Founder, Hertha Metals, said the company has demonstrated that magnet-grade iron can be produced domestically and that the development could support a stronger US supply chain for critical materials. Hertha’s production method differs from conventional approaches that generally rely on electrolytic refining and multiple processing stages. The company uses a pyrometallurgical process designed to control oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and residual metallic impurities in a single continuous step.
The company said the latest production milestone was achieved using commercial-grade equipment, demonstrating that its process can deliver the purity required by the magnet industry while reducing the need for extensive post-processing.Hertha is now preparing to move from demonstration production to commercial manufacturing. Its planned Chalyx facility will produce high-purity iron for rare-earth magnet manufacturers and is scheduled to break ground later this year.
To support the project, Hertha has appointed Alec Glenn as Vice President of Operations. Mr Glenn brings nearly three decades of steel-industry experience, including senior roles at JSW Steel USA and AM/NS Calvert, as well as six years at Nucor Steel. His experience includes construction, commissioning and operation of large-scale steel facilities.
Hertha has also engaged Mark1, a developer-as-a-service organisation focused on capital-intensive industrial technologies, to support engineering and development of the first commercial-scale facility. The company currently operates a demonstration facility in Conroe, Texas, with production capacity of about one tonne per day. The facility uses commercial-grade equipment to test and refine Hertha’s single-step process.
Hertha said the successful production of 3N5 iron establishes an important technical foundation for supplying magnet manufacturers with a domestic alternative. The company has developed a single-step process for producing steel and high-purity iron that it says can reduce production costs by more than 20% and emissions by 50% compared with conventional steelmaking. With Chalyx, Hertha plans to take the technology from demonstration to commercial scale and support the development of domestic supply chains for high-purity iron and rare-earth magnet manufacturing.
