Centrepolis Accelerator at Lawrence Technological University has launched the Critical Materials Manufacturing Technology Accelerator with USCAR, offering a $100,000 grand prize and pilot-scale commercialisation support for technologies that cut US dependence on imported critical materials and rare earth elements. The Innovation Challenge targets processes and materials that can move rapidly from lab to production for automotive, aerospace, energy, electronics and defence components, including batteries, motors, power electronics and structural parts. Eligible proposals must focus on processing, substitution or end‑of‑life recovery and recycling, not mineral exploration, mining or primary ore extraction.

Rare earth recycler Paladin EnviroTech is investing over US$5 million to expand its Ohio recovery facility from 40 to 150 tonnes per year by Q3 next year, targeting end-of-life hard drives, EV motors, generators, MRI machines and wind turbines containing neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium (up to ~16% Dy in MRI magnets). Working with Western Digital and Critical Materials Recycling, Paladin uses a non-acidic selective leaching process achieving 97–98% rare earth recovery and about 90% total value recovery, feeding mixed rare earth oxides back into Western magnet supply chains.

Breedon has appointed current chief financial officer James Brotherton as its next CEO from 1 January 2027, succeeding Rob Wood after a 12-year tenure with the construction materials group. Brotherton has been CFO since 2021 and co-developed Breedon’s “expand and improve” strategy, which underpinned its expansion into the US market and transfer to the London Stock Exchange’s main market. Wood, who became CEO in 2021, will step down from the board at end-2026 but remain an employee to support the leadership transition until September 2027.