Neo Performance Materials has produced its first separated terbium and dysprosium oxides from mixed rare earth carbonate at the newly commissioned solvent extraction line at its Silmet plant in Estonia, now running at nameplate capacity. The heavy rare earth output is designed to feed Neo’s sintered magnet plant in Narva, which opened in September as Europe’s first mass-production facility with an initial capacity of 2,000 tonnes per year. Neo is now concentrating on stabilising product purity before ramping to routine production, while maintaining full traceability across its European light and heavy rare earth value chain.

Approval of a 60 per cent Supplementary Cementitious Material (SCM) concrete mix by VicRoads for road and transport projects across Victoria marks a major shift in allowable low-carbon binders for state infrastructure. The mix, developed and trialled with Geoquest Australia, replaces the majority of Portland cement with SCMs such as fly ash and slag, cutting embodied carbon while maintaining performance to VicRoads specifications. Designers and contractors can now specify substantially higher SCM contents on VicRoads projects without seeking project-by-project exemptions.

Latrobe Magnesium has secured a non-dilutive prepayment from its US distribution partner Metal Exchange LLC to advance its Latrobe Valley magnesium production project, which uses fly ash from brown coal power generation as feedstock. The funding supports commissioning of LMG’s initial commercial plant designed to produce magnesium ingots and supplementary products such as cementitious material from waste residues. For mining and materials engineers, the deal signals growing commercial backing for ash-to-magnesium processing as an alternative to conventional dolomite- or magnesite-based routes.