March 5 (Reuters) – USA Rare Earth said on Thursday it would acquire the remaining minority interest in a Texas rare earth deposit in an all-stock transaction worth $73 million, as part of its efforts to boost domestic production of critical minerals.
The company will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Texas Mineral Resources for about 3.8 million shares of USA Rare Earth common stock.
Shares of USA Rare Earth rose 1% in premarket trading following the news.
Last year, the company had said it will bring forward commercial production at its rare earths project in Texas to late 2028 from 2030, citing faster-than-expected progress at its processing facilities and rising U.S. demand for critical minerals.
The purchase will make USA Rare Earth the sole operator of the Round Top project, which it claims to be the largest known U.S. source of heavy rare earth elements, gallium and beryllium.
Earlier this year, USA Rare Earth said the Trump administration would back a $1.6 billion debt-and-equity funding package to help it build the Texas mine and magnet facility to supply the defense and high-tech sectors.
President Donald Trump had invoked emergency powers last year to boost domestic production of critical minerals as part of a broad effort to offset China’s near-total control of the sector.
“This acquisition secures a vital pillar in our strategy to build the world’s leading globally integrated, non-China critical mineral technology platform,” USA Rare Earth CEO Barbara Humpton said.
The company expects to extract nearly 40,000 metric tons per day of rare earth and critical mineral feedstock by 2030 under its Accelerated Mining Plan.
The transaction, approved by the boards of both companies, is expected to close by the third quarter.
(Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Shreya Biswas)
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