Both Nasdaq-listed REalloys and ASX-listed Ioneer have received a conditional award from the US Army for a long-term land lease on the Tooele army depot, in Utah, for the purposes of establishing critical mineral processing facilities.

Ioneer is one of four companies to be selected for the award and aims to help the US Army build a secure, domestic boron supply chain.

Ioneer's construction-ready Rhyolite Ridge lithium/boron project hosts the largest undeveloped boron ore reserve in the world outside of Türkiye and the only undeveloped boron ore reserve in North America.

The US government added boron to its list of critical minerals in November 2025, with the Department of War recognising boron as essential to national security and energy dominance.

Boron carbide and boron nitrade are used for manufacturing advanced armour, permanent magnets, semiconductors and nuclear applications.

In turn, REalloys was selected to design, finance, build and operate a heavy rare earths processing facility at the depot.

Owing to a low capital expenditure requirement, REalloys anticipates the build to start as early as 2027 with initial operating capability targeted no later than 2028. This is to align with the January 1, 2027, US federal procurement ban on Chinese materials in the Defence Industrial Manufacturing Base.

REalloys confirms the planned facility will refine heavy rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium, which are essential to national security and permanent magnets.

REalloys CEO Leonard Sternheim comments the company's selection by the US Army for a processing facility on American soil is a powerful validation of REalloys' mine-to-magnet strategy and of the urgent national need for domestic heavy rare earth capability.

"Dysprosium and terbium are the heart of the high-temperature magnets that keep our most advanced defence systems running, and today, almost all of that processing happens overseas. We are proud to have the opportunity to help the US Army change that, building secure, allied-sourced capacity that supports our soldiers without putting taxpayer dollars at risk, and doing it ahead of the 2027 deadline our customers are racing to meet.”