Texas startup Hertha Metals has raised $133.65 million in Series A funding, including $65 million from the US government’s IBAS programme, to build its Hertha Chalyx plant targeting 10,000 tonnes per year of steel-grade and magnet-grade high-purity iron. The facility will deploy the FLEXHERS process—a single continuous hydrogen/natural-gas reduction reactor coupled with electric arc furnace technology—claiming 25% lower production costs than blast furnaces and emissions cuts of 50% (natural gas) to up to 98% (hydrogen). Chalyx, alongside the existing 360 t/y Pi100 pilot in Conroe, aims to create a fully domestic feedstock source for NdFeB magnet and defence manufacturers.

We Recycle Solar will build the US’ first end-to-end critical materials recovery facility for retired solar panels on a 10-acre campus outside Dallas, targeting Q3 2027 start-up. The Arizona-based firm says the commercial-scale plant will process one panel per minute and recover up to 96% of contained silver, copper, silicon, aluminium and glass through a proprietary extraction process that avoids any offshore smelting. WRS plans a further $100 million investment in four additional US facilities within four years, aiming to capture value from an $80 billion projected 2050 solar-panel waste stream.

Aston University is partnering with Jesmonite Ltd under an Innovate UK knowledge transfer partnership to redevelop Jesmonite’s low‑carbon acrylic, resin-based composites with added biochar as potential cement alternatives for façades and surface applications. Researchers from Aston’s Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute and Department of Civil Engineering will characterise the materials at molecular level and test mechanical and durability performance while targeting further reductions in embodied carbon. The work aims to move Jesmonite’s currently niche, film-set and design products into mainstream construction specifications, offering designers non‑cementitious façade and cladding options.