US Company Produces Critical Rare Earth Material Domestically, First in Decades

Terbium oxide can be used in permanent magnets for electric vehicles and in the defense industry.

A glass jar containing the rare earth metal Terbium (L) is pictured inside the storage room of Tradium, a company specialized in trading rare earths, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on Nov. 4, 2025. Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images

Mining company Energy Fuels announced March 26 it had successfully produced its first kilogram of terbium oxide at its Utah project, becoming the first U.S. company to produce the compound domestically in decades.

The company reported achieving a purity of 99.9 percent of the terbium oxide—a sought-after rare earth compound needed for batteries and electronics—at its White Mesa Mill using monazite ore sourced in the United States.