Canadian rare earth developer Aclara Resources said on Oct. 13 that it has completed basic engineering for a planned heavy rare earth separation facility in southwest Louisiana, a $494 million facility that has increased its planned processing capabilities in recent months.
Known as Project Dynamo, the facility is set for a roughly 82-acre site in Vinton Harbor, about 30 miles west of Lake Charles, Louisiana, where Aclara intends to process rare-earth carbonate from its mining projects in Brazil and Chile into high-purity individual rare-earth oxides.
Aclara is testing the Project Dynamo separation process and staff training at its Virginia Tech facility before commercial operations begin in Louisiana. Click to enlarge.
Photo courtesy of Aclara Resources
The Class 3 estimate revised to AACE International standards is about 78% higher than the Class 5 conceptual estimate of $277 million that Aclara disclosed in an April scoping study. The new estimate follows the completion of core engineering and incorporates an expanded project scope, including additional processing capacity and three new separation circuits.
Hatch Engineering Company, based in Mississauga, Ontario, performed the basic engineering work.
“The work undertaken together with Hatch has materially advanced the definition of the facility, from process design and equipment selection to procurement planning and construction capability, providing a strong foundation for the construction phase,” Hugh Broadhurst, Aclara’s chief operating officer, said in the announcement.
Broadhurst told ENR in an Oct. 14 email that the higher estimate reflects larger and additional processing equipment. Separation capacity increased to accommodate feed from Aclara’s mining projects in Brazil and Chile, increasing planned dysprosium and terbium capacity by 42%, while adding gadolinium, samarium and yttrium oxides requires additional separation equipment.
“In summary, the increase relates primarily to the increase in processing capacity of 157% more oxide capacity, but also includes the higher level of engineering definition moving from a Class 5 estimate to Class 3,” says Broadhurst.
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Site preparation is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2027, subject to financing and other conditions, with completion of construction expected in the second half of 2028.
Advances in engineering towards construction
Suppliers have provided quotes for all major equipment packages, according to Aclara, which expects to procure about 86% of equipment packages and all electrical packages in the US.
The Dynamo project would be built at the Port of Vinton in southwest Louisiana, where Aclara is planning a $494 million rare earth separation facility. Click to enlarge.
Screenshot courtesy Port of Vinton/ENR
Aclara has an engineering, procurement and construction management contractor selection process underway, Broadhurst tells ENR. The selection of the EPCM company and other contractors is still ongoing.
The Lake Charles region offers a workforce with experience in petrochemical and refining operations, Aclara says. The site also offers freeway access, connectivity to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, proximity to chlor-alkali producers that supply process reagents, and space for a proposed downstream metals and alloys facility.
The expanded plant is now designed to produce about 200 tons of dysprosium oxide and 35 tons of terbium oxide annually, along with yttrium, gadolinium, and samarium oxides from the three newly added separation circuits.
Entergy Louisiana is expected to provide 34.5 kV electrical service to the facility, which would require less than 5 MW, according to Aclara. The developer says Entergy has confirmed approximately 6 MW of available capacity and is investing in infrastructure to support power delivery to the Port of Vinton.
According to Aclara, the sequential extraction, scrubbing and stripping circuits would form the core of the plant’s solvent extraction process. A demonstration facility at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg, Va., is generating operational data to refine the process before commercial-scale deployment and train engineers, chemists and operators. The facility has produced neodymium-praseodymium oxide to its specific specification and is being expanded to test the three additional circuits, the company says.
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Funding remains an obstacle
Aclara received a small source air permit from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality in September. Broadhurst tells ENR the company believes it is the critical air permit needed to begin construction and says the remaining routine construction permits are not expected to delay site preparation.
Funding is not over. The US Export-Import Bank issued Aclara a non-binding letter of interest on Sept. 4 indicating it would consider up to $750 million in financing for the company’s planned larger Louisiana separation, metals and alloys platform. Aclara is preparing a formal application and any funding remains subject to due diligence, underwriting and EXIM approvals.
“With the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality air permit secured and a possible financing pathway with EXIM, the project is positioned to move toward execution,” Broadhurst said in the news release. “We are now focused on starting site preparation activities in the first quarter of 2027.”
