Louisiana rare earth plant eligible for $750M of federal funding

Because the Louisiana plant is only projected to cost $277 million to build, the potential $750 million ceiling on federal financing indicates the Export-Import Bank is willing to fund downstream expansions or other supply chain developments under the "Make More in America" manufacturing initiative.

The "Make More in America" initiative was launched by the Export-Import Bank in 2022 to revitalize domestic manufacturing by providing financing to projects that strengthen critical U.S. supply chains and challenge dominant foreign competitors like China.

“What the [U.S. government] really likes about us is that we will be providing not a mixed carbonate, but finished products that customers can procure directly, without having to figure out the rest of the value chain," Aclara Chief Financial Officer François Motte told The Northern Miner in an interview following the announcement.

As planned, the heavy rare earths separated at the plant—such as neodymium-praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium—will be converted into high-performance permanent magnet alloys. These materials are required to manufacture electric vehicles, defense systems, robotics, and the heavy power-generation equipment needed to fuel the largest data centers used in artificial intelligence applications.

Aclara confirmed in June that it will receive $20.8 million in state property tax exemptions under Louisiana's Industrial Tax Exemption Program. The contract, signed by Governor Jeff Landry, grants an 80% property tax break over an initial five-year term, saving the company about $4.2 million annually.

In late July, the Department of Energy selected Aclara to receive federal funding—with the exact dollar amount still under negotiation—to develop an AI-assisted "digital twin" to optimize the company's separation processes. As part of the federal award, the Argonne National Laboratory is providing advanced computing and AI process modeling that will use real-world operational data generated at Aclara’s pilot plant at Virginia Tech University to safely test the technology before it is deployed at commercial scale in Louisiana.

This funding falls under the Department of Energy’s broader $293 million "Genesis Mission" initiative, a federal program designed to deploy advanced computing and AI across various domestic manufacturing and critical material supply chains.

Groundbreaking at the Port of Vinton is expected as early as the fourth quarter of 2026. Aclara previously said it aims to have the Vinton facility fully operational by the end of 2027, although the timeline potentially accelerated in August when Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed executive orders fast-tracking environmental permitting for heavy rare earth extraction and advanced chemical processing plants, as previously reported by The Center Square.

The Louisiana governor ordered the environmental reviews done by state agencies must be completed within 90 days. “For decades now, the federal government has basically bogged down both small and large businesses into a labyrinth of regulatory permitting bureaucracy,” Landry said when signing the orders. “And really and truly, it has killed businesses and jobs across the country.”

Environmental advocacy groups contend that fast-tracking these environmental reviews risks circumventing essential oversight of heavy industrial processing industries. Representatives of local conservation groups such as the Louisiana Bucket Brigade argue that by compressing the environmental reviews of these projects, the state has reduced the time window for necessary public comment and for independent ecological assessments of sites near coastal wetlands.