Rare earths producer Lynas Corp said on Monday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Texas-based Blue Line Corp to set up a rare earths separation facility in the United States.Lynas and Blue Line will cooperate over the next year to develop the processing facility in Texas. The venture will be majority owned by Lynas, the companies said in a joint statement.The venture would allow Lynas to close a "critical" supply chain gap for U.S. manufacturers, the company said. Lynas had earlier indicated that it was considering building new processing facilities, given the situation in Malaysia.Lynas is the world's only major producer of rare earth minerals outside China. The materials produced by the company, such as neodymium-praseodymium, are used in a variety of applications such as electrical components and high-power magnets.It did not give any details on the cost of the proposed U.S. facility.Lynas is currently the target of a $1.1 billion takeover offer from retail-to-chemicals conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd , which it has rejected as undervaluing its business.The company last month reported a near 33% rise in its third-quarter production of rare earth oxides.

Source: The Star May 20, 2019 00:33 UTC