Construction of a $60 million state-of-the-art rare earth processing and separation demonstration plant is complete in Upton, making Wyoming an up-and-coming contender with China for processing and separating rare earths.
Processing and separating the rare earths, which will come from neighboring Crook County as part of the Bear Lodge Critical Rare Earth Mining Project, will be a game-changer for Wyoming — and the domestic supply chain as a whole.
“Not only do we expect this technology to be more efficient and better for Wyoming's land, but we expect it to be cost competitive on a global scale to diversify the domestic supply,” said Kelli Kast, vice president and chief administrative officer of Rare Element Resources Ltd. (RER), which operates both the mining and processing arms of the project.
China now processes around 90% of the world’s rare earth elements using conventional technology from the 1950s.
RER’s proprietary and patented technology aims to not only keep production of the elements it mines within the U.S., it also intends to process and separate the elements in a cleaner, more efficient way than China, Kast said.
“[China has] has no innovation, nor challenge to their dominance of any magnitude,” Kast told Cowboy State Daily in an email.
Enter RER’s rare earth processing and separation demonstration plant in Upton, which began a “shakedown” on operations last year.
Betting On A Bear Market
Bear Lodge is expected to be a world-class mining district and a dependable, long-term source of rare earth elements, the company says.
Rare earth elements in the Bear Lodge Mining District are critical to high-strength permanent magnet manufacturing.
The district has been actively mining since 1875, when gold was discovered near Warren Peak.
With construction of the processing and separation plant complete, commissioning of the plant is now underway, said Kast.
That means operators have begun introducing materials to various segments of the plant from front end to back end, running water throughout and checking for leaks and flow rate.
Full operations are set to begin at the plant in early 2026, and it’s expected to create significant employment opportunities in northeast Wyoming in the coming years.
“This is exactly the kind of strategic, domestically focused project that leaders in Washington DC and Wyoming have been calling for, and we believe we’re advancing it at precisely the right time and in exactly the right place,” Kast said.
Looking Up For Upton
Completion of the construction phase of the plant is particularly exciting news for the town of Upton, population 900.
“We’ve been following RER’s process for a long time,” Upton Mayor Nick Trandahl told Cowboy State Daily. “When they approached us, we wanted them to rock and roll. The potential of RER and what they have going on is huge.”
The plant now employs several full-time workers and is hiring additional technicians. RER plans to scale to 30 workers when it becomes fully operational.
As the mine and plant scale their operations, RER intends to create “significant employment opportunities in northeast Wyoming,” Kast said.
“There is potential for so much residual benefit,” Trandahl added.
Yet, as staffing requirements increase, so will the need for housing.
Trandahl said he has been working with RER to brainstorm housing solutions.
“In little Upton, we don’t have a ton of available housing,” he said. “But we have a lot of available land.”
FAST Permitting
Meanwhile, federal permitting of the mining arm of the project in the Bear Lodge Mining District northeast of Upton has formally restarted after hang-ups with permitting, market saturation from China and raising capital stalled the project for several years.
Kast confirmed that RER has formally restarted a federal permitting process with the U.S. Forest Service. The intent is to enter the federal government’s FAST-41 Program (fixing America’s surface transportation).
The program seeks to streamline communication, project timelines and federal decision-making for complex infrastructure projects that involve multiple agencies.
“We’re so happy that in today’s environment and with securing rare earths we have a very streamlined and efficient process,” she said. “There’s a large appetite for these projects to progress in a timely manner to meet needs.”
As of November, RER estimated construction costs for the processing and separation demonstration plant to amount to $60 million, including upgrades and rework.
RER expects ongoing operations to cost about $1.5 million per month during 2026. These costs include labor for the estimated 30 workers, as well as materials.
The Wyoming Energy Authority awarded $4.4 million to the project, and the U.S. Department of Energy committed $24.2 million.
Making Magnets
Once the plant is fully operational, it will focus the first half of 2026 on targeting separated NdPr oxide production, Kast said.
That’s short for neodymium-praseodymium oxide, which is used to make powerful magnets for a number of applications, including electric vehicle motors and wind turbines.
The ability to deliver high-purity NdPr oxide is essential for alloy production and permanent magnet manufacturing.
“This milestone will position RER and Wyoming among the very few entities outside of China capable of competing in rare earth extraction and processing,” she said.
Northeastern Wyoming is ideal for this complex mining and processing/separating operation, Kast said.
“Northeastern Wyoming’s deep mining and refining heritage, skilled workforce, and strong community support make it the ideal location for the project,” Kast said.
The Bear Lodge Critical Rare Earth Project claims to have one of the highest-grade rare earth deposits in North America.
