Hertha Metals has secured $133.65m in Series A funding to build a new plant in the US that will produce high-purity iron intended for domestic rare-earth magnet manufacturers.
The funding round includes a $65m equity investment from the US Government, provided through the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment programme and the Economic Defense Unit, aimed at strengthening the defence industrial base.
This round was co-led by Doerr Capital and Khosla Ventures, with further participation from CEV, Gates Frontier, Niterra SUISO no MORI Fund, Pear Ventures, Siemens Financial Services and Toyota Ventures.
The capital will fund Hertha Chalyx, a proposed facility designed to produce 10,000t of steel-grade and magnet-grade iron.
The plant is intended to support US efforts to establish a domestic supply of high-purity iron, a key ingredient in neodymium iron boron magnets widely used in technology and defence sectors.
Hertha Metals CEO and founder Laureen Meroueh said: “Every electric vehicle, aerospace platform, radar system and data centre depends on domestic iron and magnet feedstock suppliers.
“Hertha Chalyx closes that gap. We are building the supply chain this country needs, and we are doing it by providing a domestic cost-competitive option for manufacturers while unlocking safer and cleaner production.”
According to Hertha Metals, the US currently imports nearly all of the high-purity iron required for these magnets, which comprise around 70% iron by weight.
Hertha Metals’ Flex-HERS process is designed to replace the traditional, multi-step blast furnace method with a single continuous reactor that can use natural gas or hydrogen as a reductant and accept any grade of iron ore.
The company claims this process can lower production costs by 25% compared to blast furnaces and reduce emissions by 50% using natural gas and by up to 98% using hydrogen.
Hertha Metals operates a 360t-per-year demonstration plant in Conroe, Texas, and is currently working through supplier qualification with major US rare-earth magnet producers.
Construction of the Hertha Chalyx plant is set to begin later this year.
