“The increased investment in the facility comes as it is moving away from focusing on supplying rare earths for catalytic convertors, to instead focus on soaring demand for the magnets that are essential to electric car batteries, advanced electronics and defence systems.For now the focus is on recycling rare earths that are already in Europe. "We think that we can probably produce 30% of the rare earths needed by Europe just by recycling end of life motors and other equipment," says Mr Kehren.As demand continues to grow that will change, and more virgin material will be needed from countries such as Brazil, Canada and Australia.Solvay CEO, Philippe Kehren, who is cutting the ribbon, says the facility aims to provide 30% of Europe's rare earths by 2030There are no operational rare earth mines in Europe. Projects in Norway and Sweden are amongst the most advanced, but its likely to be another decade before they are ready."I think it's absolutely necessary to have our own mines, not necessarily a lot of them, because we can have a mix, but it's important to have our own sourcing," says Mr Kehren.”

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