HyProMag has been supported by Innovate UK through multiple programmes, including Driving the Electric Revolution (DER) and CLIMATES. Together, this support has enabled the company to move from early-stage innovation to scaled-up UK manufacturing, including the development of a new, world-leading magnet recycling and manufacturing facility at the University of Birmingham.

Rare earth permanent magnets are critical to electric vehicles, renewable energy technologies, and advanced manufacturing. However, the UK has long depended on imported magnets and materials, leaving its supply chains vulnerable to disruption. HyProMag has now restored sintered rare-earth magnet manufacturing to the UK for the first time in 25 years.

Scaled-up UK production of rare-earth permanent magnets (REPMs) is now underway at the University of Birmingham’s Magnet Recycling facility, developed with Innovate UK support. This is allowing HyProMag to scale recycling and manufacturing in the UK for the first time in a generation. This milestone significantly strengthens the UK’s rare-earth recycling and manufacturing capability.

Crucially, it marks the UK’s first domestic production of sintered REPMs since the millennium, enabled by the use of end-of-life magnet-containing components as feedstock. Together, these achievements mean the UK now has every critical element required for a complete rare-earth permanent magnet value chain.

Innovation Exchange – flexibility and partnership

Alongside larger CLIMATES funded projects, the Innovate UK Innovation Exchange (iX) played a crucial role in allowing HyProMag to explore coating technologies for recycled magnets. The flexible, fast-moving nature of iX allowed the company to test multiple approaches with different suppliers.

“The flexibility of iX is one of its biggest strengths,” says Rob Arnold, Senior Metallurgist at HyProMag. “It allowed us to explore different suppliers and approaches quickly, and test ideas that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. One iX connection has already developed into a likely long-term partnership – the impact of iX has only been positive.”

Exploring the medium loop

Building on earlier Innovate UK -supported work, the CLIMATES-funded REEmelt project allowed HyProMag to explore a medium-loop recycling route in collaboration with Less Common Metals (LCM) and ADEY Innovation, a designer and manufacturer of magnetic filtration systems for central heating. The aim was to understand whether this route could offer technical advantages while remaining commercially and environmentally viable.

“Although there is a cost implication compared to the shortest loop, there’s also a compositional and technical advantage,” explains Nick Mann, Operations General Manager at HyProMag. “The medium loop offers greater control over chemical composition and oxygen levels, producing higher-quality material suitable for magnet manufacture.”

CLIMATES funding enabled them to test this approach in practice. The project demonstrated that LCM could successfully purify and modify recycled alloys, and that HyProMag could convert this material into fully functional magnets. As a result, this project demonstrated a new route to market for HyProMag by proving that recycled magnets could perform as well as virgin magnets for magnetic filtration systems for central heating.

Impact on the UK supply chain

The project has shown that a UK-based, multi-loop magnet recycling supply chain is technically viable. Together, HyProMag and LCM now represent a unique capability – with LCM the only company in the UK, and one of the few in the Western hemisphere, able to carry out this type of remelting at scale.

Beyond its immediate technical outcomes, REEmelt has helped build confidence across the sector. It demonstrated that recycled magnets can meet the required specifications while delivering significantly lower embedded carbon, opening up new opportunities for UK manufacturers seeking more sustainable and resilient supply options.

What’s next

Following successive support through Driving the Electric Revolution and CLIMATES, HyProMag is now focused on combining short-, medium- and long-loop recycling routes to deliver high performance magnets while minimising carbon intensity and cost.

“Without Innovate UK funding, we simply would not be where we are,” Nick Mann concludes. “It gives manufacturers the focus and freedom to invest in innovation – and that’s what turns long-term ambition into something real.”

Find out how the CLIMATES programme can support you in your innovation journey.