September 8, 1950. Washington, D.C.

The Korean War was three months old. American soldiers were pinned at the Pusan Perimeter. Short on steel. Short on aluminum. Short on time. That day, President Truman signed the Defense Production Act. It gave the White House the power to tell private companies what to make, who to sell it to, and how much to charge.

That law is 75 years old. Tomorrow, it fires again.

Starting August 27, every company in the United States that sells black mass must allocate 100% of monthly sales to American buyers. Exports are permitted only with prior BIS authorization or under limited exceptions. Same goes for tungsten scrap. The rule lasts one year.

Black mass is the dark powder that comes out when you shred a used lithium-ion battery. It looks like nothing — fine black grit. But inside that powder sit lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and graphite. Those are the five metals you need to build new batteries. Every EV on the road, every phone in your pocket, started with materials like these.

Until now, most of it went overseas. Companies shipped it to China and South Korea because those countries had the refining plants. So the cycle went like this: American batteries died. American recyclers shredded them. The powder went to Asia. And it came back as new battery parts — sold to American companies at a markup.

Washington noticed. When your own raw materials leave for a rival's factories and come back as finished goods, you're paying twice — once to shred it, once to buy it back. The Defense Production Act was built for exactly this kind of problem.

So President Trump signed a determination on July 30 calling these minerals "essential to national defense." The Commerce Department published the ban on August 6. It uses a provision of the original 1950 law called DPAS — Defense Priorities and Allocations System — the same tool Truman created to direct steel mills during Korea.

The problem is that the U.S. does not have enough plants to refine what it is keeping. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence says China had 1.5 million tonnes of excess black mass refining capacity last year. America had close to zero. Companies like Li-Cycle, Redwood Materials, and Ascend Elements are building domestic plants. But most are not at full scale. Construction takes years. Permits take longer.

So starting tomorrow, a growing pile of battery waste will need to find domestic buyers. Some will be there. Most won't — not yet. The bet is that one year is enough to build what should have been built a decade ago.

The rule runs through August 27, 2027. If domestic refining catches up, the ban worked. If it doesn't, Washington faces two bad choices. Extend the ban and let material pile up. Or let it expire and watch the same powder flow back to Beijing.

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The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation committed $62.8 million to rare earth projects in four African countries — Malawi, Angola, Madagascar, and South Africa. Two senior DFC executives told Reuters that private investors remain reluctant to fund these projects. The risks are too high, the economics too uncertain, and Chinese intervention in global pricing could crush returns at any time. About $50 million of the total went to the Phalaborwa project in South Africa. Africa now makes up roughly 20 to 25 percent of DFC's total portfolio. None of the funded projects has reached production yet. Washington decided that waiting for private capital to show up was taking too long.

— Reuters

Hertha Metals says it has produced iron at 99.95% purity — a grade called 3N5 — at its pilot plant in Conroe, Texas. That is the standard rare earth magnet makers need. The Houston-based startup says it is the first American company to reach this mark using only domestic iron ore and natural gas. High-purity iron makes up about 70% of an NdFeB magnet by weight, but almost none is made in the U.S. today. Hertha's process — called FLEXHERS — uses an electric arc furnace with natural gas or hydrogen to hit the target in a single step. The company will break ground this fall on Chalyx, its first commercial plant. The timing matters: defense contractors face a January 1, 2027 deadline to stop using Chinese-origin magnets in weapons systems.

— Mining.com

A report from Strategic Revenue Insights puts the global rare earth recycling market at $1.2 billion as of 2025, headed to $2.3 billion by 2033. That's about 8.2% growth a year — not a boom. But the direction matters more than the speed. China's control of rare earth exports, which hit 15,000 metric tonnes worth $300 million in the latest trade data reviewed by the report, is forcing automakers and clean-energy companies outside China to invest in their own recycling capacity. Tighter export rules from Beijing and the growing push for domestic refining are speeding up that investment across North America and Europe.

— Strategic Revenue Insights

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Laureen Meroueh, CEO, Hertha Metals
August 20, 2026

The name comes from the Greek for "hard to get at." In 1886, a French chemist spent dozens of steps trying to isolate it from holmium and erbium. That name fits better than ever. Dysprosium is the element that keeps rare earth magnets working in heat. Add a few percent to an NdFeB magnet and it holds its strength above 150°C — the temperature inside an EV motor or a wind turbine generator. Without it, the magnet fails. It trades at $930.70 per kilogram today, up 105% this year. But that is the Western price. Inside China, the oxide goes for about $205 per kilogram. Outside, it can cost five to ten times more. That gap is the price of one country controlling the supply.

China's ACREI rare earth price index fell to 259.1 on August 18, down from a peak above 300 earlier this year. NdPr oxide and gadolinium products declined while terbium, holmium, and erbium moved higher.

— Rare Earth Exchanges

The U.S. DFC will provide project development funding for Harena Rare Earths' Ampasindava mine in Madagascar. The money covers pilot plant work, lab testing, and environmental programs. Harena targets production by mid-2028.

— DFC.gov

REalloys reported Q2 revenue of $0.8 million and a net loss of $36.8 million but holds $122.4 million in cash. The company says it has fully funded $58.3 million in rare earth processing upgrades and continues lease talks with the U.S. Army at Tooele Depot in Utah.

— REalloys press release

USA Rare Earth rose 8% to $18.40, Critical Metals jumped 10% to $6.37, and MP Materials climbed 5% to $58. The 30-year Treasury yield at 5.19% is sending money into commodities and mining equities.

— 24/7 Wall St.