The Minneapolis based company Niron Magnetics has developed a new type of magnet that could reduce U.S. reliance on China for the critical component found in everything from cell phones to EV motors to wind turbines.

The magnets are made of so-called rare earth elements with technology that originated at the U of M. Here, with more on this first new magnet in 40 years, Niron’s chief technology officer Frank Johnson.

Say, the process is called a clean earth magnet.

That's right.

Define that for us.

Well, we call it the Clean Earth magnet because, as you mentioned, we don't use any of the critical minerals that are found in other types of magnets.

these include things like rare earth elements, which there is, only a significant supply of them outside the United States.

The main components of our materials is just iron and nitrogen, makes up about 99% of the material, and we can source those anywhere.

The iron can come from steel and the nitrogen can come from ammonia.

How did you discover this?

What was the spark that led to the discovery of this or the or the implementation as you developed it?

So, the material in the compound is, has been known for many, many years, decades.

But what prompted the interest in this about ten years ago was a reduction in the amount of rare earths that were imported into the country, and that prompted the Department of Energy within the U.S. government to fund a number of research projects, one of which was at the University of Minnesota, to look at alternatives that didn't use rare earths.

And that's what this technology was born out of.

You have a little bit of a can you show folks what you have in the box there?

Curious.

Yeah.

So, This is a demonstration of how we make the magnet.

The starting material, the raw material is essentially rust, highly engineered rust.

It's not a crystalline.

So that is key to our process.

And then as we process it, we turn it into a very, very magnetic compound.

Oh I see, okay.

And then as a material progresses through the process, compound becomes even more magnetic.

Where where would you start commercializing this?

What industry or industries would benefit from something like this?

Well, magnets are used in a, you know, a huge variety of applications.

So you'll find them in audio components and speakers.

Your cell phone has about 18 magnets, not just in the speaker, but also in the stabilizing system for the cameras.

They're in hard drives, they're in traction motors, but there's also dozens of motors and other actuators and sensors throughout the car that can use magnets.

Does this help the Iron Range, northeastern Minnesota?

Well, it, uses iron.

They have a lot of rust up there.

That's right.

They have a lot of rust.

You know, I think the total amount of a magnet produced is probably a small fraction of the total amount of steel produced in the country, but certainly one of our raw materials could be steel or iron ore that could come from up north.

How much public money do you think you might need to get this up and running?

We've had a very successful public private partnership.

Much of our early research funding came from the U.S government, both the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense, and we hope to be able to continue working in that model, coupled with private and, private capital as well.

How does Sartell get into the mix here?

So a couple of weeks ago, we announced that our first manufacturing plant is going to be located in Sartell.

That is going to enable us to increase the amount of material that we can provide by a couple of orders of magnitude and be able to supply our first customers.

We expect to get that online, in a couple of years, and it'll probably employ about 200 people.

Wow.

Well, okay, so this is an example of you taking research and monetizing it.

Absolutely.

Which is, which is probably, how how is that viewed in terms of, other industry?

We think it's a very good example of, you know, successful transition from, you know, early stage fundamental research that was done in the laboratory and being able to take that through the development that's needed to bring it to a full scale product.

There's a lot of work that is of the scale that can't be done in a university laboratory, but isn't quite ready to be brought onto the market right away.

So there needs to be kind of an incubation in the development period.

Does this get involved with China trade issues?

Well, not directly.

Right.

But we do see this material as an alternative to rare earth containing materials that come from overseas, including China.

What we view this as, as a way to basically secure the supply chain for these materials.

You know, China is growing, it needs these materials for its own economy.

The demand for these types of magnets is going to increase dramatically.

And so we view this as an alternative in addition to other, you know, magnet manufacturing facilities being made.

Very interesting.

Appreciate you coming by with even with the show and tell.

It was great.

We like that.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.