American Resources unit ReElement hits commercial-scale germanium milestone
Published: 08:45 07 Aug 2026 EDT
American Resources Corp (NASDAQ:AREC) said its minority-held affiliate ReElement Technologies Corporation has successfully commissioned and operated its first commercial-scale germanium production column at ReElement's refining facility in Indiana.
The germanium column is the largest chromatography column ReElement currently intends to deploy across its owned facilities and future partner locations worldwide, and the company said the run demonstrates that its chromatography-based separation and purification process can operate at commercial scale.
ReElement's chromatography-based platform eliminates the need for organic solvents used in conventional solvent-extraction circuits. The company said the technology reduces chemical consumption and physical footprint, allows modular production lines to expand capacity, and can process a range of primary, recycled and unconventional feedstocks.
The Marion, Indiana facility is being built around four initial production lines dedicated to germanium, gallium, light rare earth elements and heavy rare earth elements.
Initial commercial production will include germanium, gallium, neodymium, neodymium-praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium, gadolinium, yttrium and samarium.
A planned Phase II expansion is expected to add production lines for battery materials including lithium, cobalt and nickel, as well as tungsten.
The company said development of the facility remains under budget and ahead of the schedule laid out in its original construction and commercialization plans, including milestones previously discussed with US government stakeholders tied to magnet-recycling initiatives.
"This is a monumental achievement for ReElement, our employees, our partners and the United States' critical-mineral supply chain," said Mark Jensen, CEO of ReElement. “Today's successful demonstration validates that our technology is not only scientifically proven - it is commercially scalable.”
ReElement said it is in discussions with companies across the rare earth, critical mineral, semiconductor, aerospace, defense and battery-material industries on feedstock partnerships, toll processing, joint ventures and co-location arrangements to accelerate refining capacity in the United States and allied nations.
