Manganese Bismuth magnets to be produced by two companies The US DOE recently unveiled its 2023 Critical Materials Assessment. In it,
cobalt is and will continue to be a "critical" CM for the medium term, i.e. 2025 - 2035. Rare earth minerals such as
Dysprosium, Neodymium and Terbium, which are used in permanent magnets are also deemed "critical" CMs, not only due to their importance to energy, but their even higher supply risk. https://thedeepdive.ca/u-s-department-of-energy-unveils-2023-critical-materials-assessment/ "Since the 2011 RE [Rare Earth] crisis, researchers started working on RE-free PM [permanent magnets] with sufficient energy density and thermal stability.
Manganese bismuth (MnBi) emerged as a promising RE-free PM material."
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304885322007971?via%3Dihub There are now
two companies that are pursuing mass production / commercialization of these manganese bismuth magnets as a substitute for Rare Earth magnets,
PowderMet Inc (
https://www.pm-review.com/researchers-optimise-rare-earth-free-magnets-through-microstructure-engineering/) and
DA Technology/Korecen (
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rare-earth-free-permanent-magnet---da-technology-co-ltd-and-korecen-co-ltd-jointly-completes-prototype-production-of-mn-bi-based-permanent-magnet-301873961.html).
The use and application of permanent magnets is mind boggling and their associated RE minerals are not exactly abundant, especially in friendly jurisdictions. This represents a hugh market potential for these manganese bismuth magnets and should be another recent significant reason which generates an interest in FT's bismuth reserves, one would think.