Russia’s first plant for the production of rare earth magnets will be built in Udmurtia

The government of Udmurtia, the fuel division of Rosatom TVEL JSC and Rusatom Metaltech, a member of it, will sign an agreement on the creation of a large-scale production of permanent rare-earth magnets in the city of Glazov on June 15 on the sidelines of SPIEF-2023. This was reported to Vedomosti by a representative of TVEL and confirmed by the head of Udmurtia Alexander Brechalov. The enterprise will be the first production of this kind in Russia.

According to a TVEL representative, the plant will reach industrial production volumes in 2028, they should amount to more than 1,000 tons per year of permanent rare earth magnets. They will be produced using the neodymium-iron-boron system based on the Russian mineral resource base with the prospect of expanding production to 3,000 tons per year after 2030.

200 new jobs will appear in Glazov, Brechalov specified. According to him, it is planned to create an industrial park with an area of ​​20 hectares for this project with the prospect of increasing it to 60 hectares.

A TVEL representative did not disclose the cost of the new enterprise, but noted that it “belongs to the category of large investment profitable projects with an estimated cost of several billion rubles.” Pre-project work will be carried out at the expense of TVEL’s own funds, loan financing will be attracted for design and survey work, and it is planned to purchase equipment with the help of loans from the Industry Development Fund at a preferential rate, he specified.

The main goal of creating production is to satisfy, first of all, the growing domestic demand, emphasizes the representative of TVEL. The expansion of the plant’s capacity through the construction of the second stage up to 3,000 tons will make it possible to send products for export, he adds. According to the interlocutor, both the magnets themselves and the products in which they are planned to be used can be exported – electric vehicles and wind farms with equipment manufactured by Novavind (a subsidiary of Rosatom).

Brechalov drew attention to the fact that the demand for permanent magnets in the world is now growing due to the transition to clean energy and electric transport – they are an essential component in the manufacture of electric motors and generators of wind power plants (wind turbines).

Serial production of electric vehicles in Russia is carried out by Kamaz, the GAZ group, the Moscow automobile plant Moskvich and Lipetsk Motorinvest. The first two companies specialize in the production of electric buses and light commercial vehicles. Moskvich and Motorinvest produce passenger electric cars from Chinese vehicle kits under the Moskvich and Evolute brands, respectively.

Novavind combines the wind energy assets of Rosatom. The total volume of the company’s portfolio is wind turbines with 1.7 GW of installed capacity. In Volgodonsk (Rostov region) there is a plant “Novavind” for the production of components and assemblies of wind turbines. The constructed windmills are operated by Novavind-controlled companies VetroOGK (660 MW) and VetroOGK-2 (two stations of 60 MW each have been commissioned in the Stavropol Territory, a total of 1 GW will be built by 2028).

The representative of the Russian Wind Industry Association explained that rare-earth magnets are used in the latest type of wind turbines in the manufacture of generators without a gearbox. He added that the production in Russia of materials and components that are used in the manufacture of products using the latest technologies is technological independence.

In the industrial park, which is planned to be created in Glazov for the TVEL project, in the future it is planned to host other joint investment projects of the company and the government of Udmurtia, Brechalov says. One of the main assets of TVEL is already located in Glazov – the Chepetsk Mechanical Plant, which manufactures products for the nuclear industry.

According to the managing director of the NRA rating service Sergey Grishunin, the Canadian company Neo Performance Materials Inc. plans to build a plant with a similar capacity for the production of permanent rare earth magnets – with a peak capacity of 5000 tons / year – in the city of Sillamäe in Estonia. Planned construction costs are estimated at 100 million euros (about 9.1 billion rubles). Most likely, the domestic plant will not differ much technologically, but due to problems with access to Western technologies, it can cost 25-30% more, the expert believes.

According to Mikhail Burmistrov, General Director of Infoline-Analytics, the volume of investments in the first stage of construction of a plant for the production of magnets in Glazov will amount to “at least $300 million” (25.3 billion rubles). But the final parameters can be determined when the technology for producing precursor alloys by strip casting is completed, and then from them prototypes of permanent magnets, the expert notes.

According to Burmistrov, if the project is implemented taking into account the plans to organize the production of electric vehicles in Russia, the demand for the first stage will be guaranteed. But reaching the output of 3,000 tons “raises questions, given the limited export potential for electric vehicles and the difficulties in implementing projects in the field of wind energy due to problems with the localization of equipment.”

Alexander Volobuev and Denis Ilyushenkov contributed to the preparation of the article.