Rare earth separation · Sydney, Australia

A simpler way to separate rare earths.

Xenolith Elements is developing a new separation technology designed to be simpler, cleaner and lower-cost than solvent extraction.

Partner with us See how it works
Separation, illustrated Magnet rare earths Other rare earths Rejected: Ce and impurities
  • Electric vehicles
  • Wind turbines
  • Robotics and automation
  • Smartphones and electronics
  • Efficient motors and appliances
  • Medical imaging
  • Fibre-optic networks
  • Catalytic converters

The bottleneck

Mining rare earths is only half the job.

Rare earth magnets sit inside the technologies that clean energy and modern life depend on. Once the ore is mined, its rare earths must be separated from each other, and that is the hard part.

  1. 01

    Mining

    Ore is mined and concentrated.

  2. 02

    Leaching

    The minerals are dissolved into one mixed solution.

  3. Where Xenolith works

    03

    Separation

    The mix is split into individual rare earths. This is the hard part.

  4. 04

    Metals and magnets

    Oxides become metals, alloys and magnets.

  5. 05

    Motors and turbines

    Magnets power EVs, wind turbines and electronics.

  • Near-identical chemistry

    Neighbouring rare earths behave almost the same, so solvent extraction plants need hundreds of stages to pull them apart.

  • Costly and complex

    Those plants are large, reagent-heavy and expensive to build and run.

  • Concentrated supply

    Most of the world's separation capacity sits in one country.

Technology

Separation that starts with selectivity.

We are building a separation technology that tells neighbouring rare earths apart far more sharply than conventional methods, so the job takes fewer steps.

Hundreds of stages

Neighbouring rare earths are so alike that each stage only nudges them apart, so plants chain hundreds of mixer-settlers to finish the job.

The element you wantIts neighbours

Illustrative only, not to scale. Tap to switch.

Selective by design

A new separation material engineered to pick out individual rare earths.

Fewer steps

Aims to cut process stages, reagent use and plant footprint.

Built with data

AI-guided materials discovery and process modelling move us faster from lab to plant.

The elements

Every rare earth has a job.

Praseodymium, neodymium, terbium and dysprosium go into the permanent magnets inside EV motors, wind turbines and robots. The others go into catalysts, lasers, screens and medical imaging. Select an element to see what it does.

Magnet rare earths Other rare earths Radioactive, not produced from ore
60Nd

Magnet rare earth

Neodymium

Atomic number 60

The main ingredient of the permanent magnets in EV motors, wind turbines and electronics.

Founders

Built by people who have taken this chemistry to market.

25 years of combined experience turning new chemistry into commercial processes, across rare earths, lithium and advanced separations.

Dr. Mahmoud Alhadad

Co-founder & Co-CEO

Metallurgist and process engineer with 10 years taking rare earth and lithium technologies from concept to commercial production. Delivered 10+ major projects across Australia, Europe, Asia and the US.

PreviouslyLynas Rare Earths · Tianqi Lithium · Infinity Lithium · Novalith Technologies

Dr. Shane Cox

Co-founder & Co-CEO

Chemical engineer with 15 years turning novel chemistry into commercial processes. Expert in membranes, ion exchange and advanced porous materials, most recently leading the R&D and operations teams behind a battery-grade lithium carbonate pilot plant.

PreviouslyNovalith Technologies

Contact

Let's separate better, together.

We work with miners, refiners, research partners and investors who want a better way to separate rare earths.