Ionic Technologies has submitted a planning application for an £89m rare-earth magnet-recycling and refining facility in Belfast, giving manufacturers across electric vehicles, wind turbines and advanced manufacturing a prospective domestic, circular source of high-purity rare-earth oxides as global supply remains concentrated in a small number of international markets.

The proposed 10,798 sq m facility would be built on a seven-acre brownfield site at Harland Road in Channel Commercial Park, Belfast's Titanic Quarter, and would include a recycling and refining plant, offices and associated site infrastructure; if approved, it would expand Ionic Technologies' existing Belfast operation.

The plant would recover, separate and refine rare-earth elements from end-of-life magnets and manufacturing waste. An economic impact assessment estimates the 30-week construction phase could support around 275 full-time construction jobs and generate £19.6m in GVA across Northern Ireland, with the operational facility projected to contribute around £11m a year in net additional GVA and £325,000 a year in rates.

Managing director Tim Harrison said the proposal reflects the group's confidence in Belfast and Northern Ireland, describing it as an important step towards a major long-term investment built around locally developed technology. He said the facility, subject to approval, would create highly skilled jobs, support advanced manufacturing and return rare-earth materials already in circulation to the supply chain.

Ionic Technologies, a Belfast-based advanced-materials company, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ionic Rare Earths Limited, an ASX-listed company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia; the proposal builds on research originating at Queen's University Belfast. The company has received an Offer in Principle for a £12m UK government capital grant, made in partnership with the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK under the DRIVE35 programme.

The proposal reflects a wider push by Western manufacturers to build domestic rare-earth recycling capacity, reducing exposure to a supply chain where China controls around 90 per cent of global processing, according to the IEA.

For the sector, the UK government's £12m grant offer alongside Ionic's Australian parent-company capital shows critical materials manufacturing increasingly depends on blended public-private investment.

The wider signal for the sector is that rare-earth recycling is emerging as a distinct UK manufacturing sub-sector, with Belfast positioning itself as a base for circular critical materials supply.

Source: BusinessFirst / S&P Global Market Intelligence