LOHUM, CSIR-IMMT unite to strengthen rare-earth magnet manufacturing ecosystem
Rare-earth permanent magnets are essential components in electric vehicles, renewable-energy systems, advanced electronics, industrial automation, defence equipment, and several other strategically important applications, yet India remains heavily dependent on imports across this value chain. Establishing domestic capabilities in this space is vital to the country’s industrial resilience, technological sovereignty, and long-term economic security.
LOHUM, India’s largest diversified producer of sustainable critical minerals and advanced materials, and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research–Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (CSIR-IMMT) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly advance indigenous technology capabilities for the production of critical rare-earth materials used in high-performance permanent magnets.
Through this collaboration, LOHUM and CSIR-IMMT will combine scientific research, process-development expertise, and industrial execution capabilities to develop and validate technologies for the production of metallised neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), one of the core materials needed for manufacturing high-performance rare-earth permanent magnets. The technology being jointly developed is a much safer alternative to the commonly used metal removal by ladle process of Molten Salt Electrolysis.
Rajat Verma, Founder & CEO, LOHUM said: “India’s rare-earth magnet ambitions cannot be realised through manufacturing capacity alone. They require indigenous control over critical technologies and materials that underpin the entire value chain. Our partnership with CSIR-IMMT is a step towards building that capability within India”.
