The pilot plant for the treatment of permanent magnets (PM) was inaugurated on September 18, 2024, at the Itelyum Regeneration facility in Ceccano (FR). The plant is capable of regenerating over 20 tons per year of strategic materials used in electric and hybrid motors and hard drives. This infrastructure represents a major step forward for Itelyum in building a European Rare Earth Elements (REE) supply chain founded on the principles of circular economy, technological innovation, and environmental sustainability.
The plant was developed within the framework of the European project New-RE, supported by EIT RawMaterials, with the goal of increasing the circularity of critical materials and reducing Europe’s dependence on extra-EU imports. During the inauguration, the 20th stage of “I Cantieri della Transizione Ecologica” — a national campaign promoted by Legambiente to highlight virtuous projects contributing to the country’s decarbonization and the development of a new regenerative economy — also took place.
The adopted solutions will also serve as the technological core of the INSPIREE project, in which Itelyum is one of the main partners alongside Erion, EIT RawMaterials, Glob Eco, and the University of L’Aquila. The project aims to scale up treatment capacity to 2,000 tons per year of permanent magnets, equivalent to those contained in over 600,000 electric and hybrid motors.
