Hertha Metals said Tuesday it has achieved iron production at 99.95% (3N5) purity, meeting the specifications required by top rare earth magnet manufacturers at its demonstration-scale steelmaking facility in Conroe, Texas. 

The Houston- based startup is aiming to fill a critical gap in the US rare earth magnet supply chain as new domestic sourcing requirements approach and policymakers seek to reduce reliance on China for strategic materials. 

The news comes as defense manufacturers face a January 1, 2027 deadline to reduce reliance on Chinese-origin magnets and critical materials, while US industry races to qualify domestic alternatives. 

This production, Hertha said, makes it the first US company to reach this specification with fully domestic inputs, and establishes a domestic source for a material the US currently imports almost entirely.  

The company is developing what it calls FLEXHERS, short for flexible fuel hydrogen electric reduction smelting, a process that combines electric arc furnace technology with natural gas or hydrogen to produce iron and steel. 

“Rare earth magnets are a national priority right now, yet most of the reshoring efforts have concentrated on the rare earth elements and finished magnets,” chief executive Laureen Meroueh told MINING.COM in an email.  

“But high-purity iron makes up most of an NdFeB magnet’s weight, and we haven’t had a domestic producer of it until now. Hitting 3N5 using domestic iron ore and natural gas closes that gap, and means that a domestic magnet producer can source the iron at home at a lower cost,” Meroueh said.  

High-purity iron is an essential input to rare-earth magnets, making up roughly 70% by weight of the neodymium magnets used in electric vehicle motors, wind turbines and defense systems.  

“High-purity iron is one of the least visible materials behind the magnets that power everything from electric vehicles to defense systems, and today almost none of it is made in America,” Meroueh said in Tuesday’s release.  

“We’ve now demonstrated that we can produce magnet-grade iron domestically, creating a new pathway to build a domestic supply chain.” 

Meroueh said Hertha’s next facility, Chalyx, will break ground this fall to produce high-purity iron to that specification for rare-earth magnet producers.