Trafalgar sets sights on rare earth magnet plant in India

“The goal is to supply 20% of domestic demand for sintered NdFeB [neodymium iron boron] magnets in 2027,” Ian Higgins, Trafalgar’s founder and director, said.

High-performance sintered NdFeB magnets are used in the motors of electric and hybrid vehicles, along with other applications.

“There are many good reasons to set up a project in India — a large domestic market, highly skilled workforce and a fast-growing manufacturing sector,” he added.

Crucially, the project also has domestic political support. Indian state-owned rare earths producer Irel put out a call for expressions of interest in setting up a NdFeB magnet plant in 2020. Irel said it will supply separated rare earth oxides for the project, to create a fully vertically integrated supply chain for manufacturing NdFeB rare earth magnets for the automotive sector and samarium cobalt (SmCo) rare earth magnets for the defense sector.

Trafalgar has purchased a 45,000-square-meter site in the western province of Gujarat and funded phase 1 of the project. This is scheduled for completion in 2026, with production capacity for 100 tonnes per year of neodymium-praseodymium metal and 115 tpy of SmCo alloy, with first production of sintered NdFeB magnets anticipated shortly afterward.

“The biggest challenge is developing a cost-competitive India-centric rare earth magnet business that can compete with Chinese production,” Higgins said.

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