UK Minister for Industry opens HyProMag UK's first commercial scale rare earth sintered magnet manufacturing facility

Facility derisks HyProMag USA roll out and accelerates opportunity for U.S. customer magnet product verification

DALLAS-FORT WORTH, TX / ACCESS Newswire / January 15, 2026 / HyProMag USA, LLC ("HyProMag USA" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce the official launch of HyProMag Limited's (HyProMag) rare earth magnet facility today at Tyseley Energy Park (the "UK Facility"). The UK Facility has been developed by the Magnetic Materials Group ("MMG") at the University of Birmingham and constructed and commissioned alongside HyProMag. The University of Birmingham and HyProMag today host the opening of the Facility for separating and recycling rare earth magnets using the patented Hydrogen Processing of Magnet Scrap ("HPMS") technology, licensed exclusively to HyProMag. The Facility will be officially opened by Chris McDonald MP, Minister for Industry in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Department for Business and Trade.

The Facility is the only commercial scale rare earth sintered magnet manufacturing facility in the UK. HyProMag has successfully operated the Facility as the industrial partner, utilizing the HPMS technology to produce a recycled NdFeB alloy powder, as well as having produced recycled NdFeB sintered magnet blocks utilizing the recycled alloy powder. The Facility can recover over 400kg of rare earth alloy per batch utilizing the HPMS reactor and can produce new sintered magnets from the recycled rare earth alloy at a capacity of 100 tonnes per annum on a single shift, and over 300 tonnes per annum on multiple shifts.

Julian Treger, CoTec CEO commented: "The official opening of HyProMag UK's Plant is a major achievement after 20 years development at the University of Birmingham. The Magnetic Materials Group are established as industry leaders in the field of recycling of rare earths through their propriety HPMS technology to produce recycled permanent magnets. HyProMag's first plant will provide the foundation of technical expertise to support a scalable U.S. manufacturing platform and optimize products for U.S. customers. Collaboration between the HyProMag businesses provides a long-term solution in securing resilience in domestic supply chains."

William Dawes, Mkango CEO commented: "This is a landmark achievement and transformational for rare earth supply chains, bringing back magnet manufacturing to the UK after 25 years and is underpinned by a home-grown technology, HPMS, that not only delivers a cost advantage, but has a minimal carbon footprint. Since Mkango's first investment in HyProMag in 2020 and HyProMag UK's ongoing collaboration with the University of Birmingham as the commercial partner and exclusive licensee, it is fantastic to see HPMS technology progress to commercialisation with the support of Innovate UK and ongoing collaboration with the University of Birmingham and is a credit to the vision and determination of everyone involved. This development provides a strong platform for further scale-up in the UK and international roll-out, already underway in Germany and the U.S., with other countries being assessed for further expansion."

Allan Walton, Head of the Magnetic Materials Group at the University of Birmingham and Director of HyProMag, commented: "The first use of hydrogen for recycling of magnets was proposed by the late Emeritus Professor Rex Harris who started the recycling activities in the group over 20 years ago. Since that time, the group has scaled multiple processes to sense, sort, extract, purify, and recycle rare earth magnets. This has only been possible because of the commitment of the highly skilled team within the MMG and due to the large interdisciplinary projects the group has taken part in across the rare earth value chain."

Building Momentum Toward U.S. Commercial Scale
HyProMag USA is building momentum through a series of recent milestones for HyProMag USA, including expansion announcement in South Carolina and Nevada^[i], detailed engineering and feasibility work on the Texas Hub^[ii], execution of the site lease^[iii] at the Ironhead Commerce Center, and the company's intention to pursue a U.S. public listing. Together these developments reflect accelerating momentum as HyProMag USA advances toward commercial operations and a scaled manufacturing footprint across the U.S.

In parallel, HyProMag USA is engaging with large technology and infrastructure operators to support the growing need for secure, domestic recycling solutions for magnet-bearing equipment used in hyperscale data centers and AI infrastructure. The Company's modular, low-carbon, magnet-to-magnet recycling platform is designed to support end-of-life recovery of rare earth materials from servers, storage systems, and related equipment, positioning HyProMag USA as a preferred long-term recycling and manufacturing partner for hyperscale customers as capacity expands in the United States.

About HyProMag USA
HyProMag USA is developing advanced rare earth magnet recycling and manufacturing operations to establish a secure domestic U.S. supply chain for NdFeB magnets, essential components for AI infrastructure, defense systems, robotics, electric vehicles, and advanced electronics. Leveraging the revolutionary HPMS technology, developed over 15 years by the Magnetic Materials Group at the University of Birmingham with more than $100 million in R&D investment, the company delivers faster magnet-to-magnet short-loop recycling that uses 88% less energy and reduces carbon emissions by 85% compared to conventional methods. HPMS accepts a wide range of magnet-bearing feedstocks - including end-of-life EV motors, data-center, and industrial equipment, consumer electronics, and manufacturing scrap - enabling recovery of magnet-grade material without chemical processing. Selected by the U.S. Department of State as a Minerals Security Partnership project, HyProMag USA is targeting 10% of U.S. domestic magnet supply within five years, ensuring supply chain security and resilience for technologies critical to national defense and economic competitiveness.

Ownership
HyProMag USA LLC is owned 50:50 by CoTec Holdings Corp. (TSXV:CTH)(OTCQB:CTHCF) ("CoTec") and HyProMag Limited. HyProMag Limited is 100% owned by Maginito Limited which is owned on a 79.4%/20.6% basis by Mkango Resources Ltd. (AIM/TSX-V: MKA) and CoTec.

For more information, please visit www.hypromagusa.com

For further information, please contact:

John Singleton - Director - john.singleton@hypromagusa.com
Will Dawes - Director - will.dawes@hypromagusa.com
Eugene Hercun - Company Communications - +1 604 537 2413

Forward-Looking Information Cautionary Statement
Statements in this press release regarding the Company and its investments which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements," which involve risks and uncertainties, including statements relating to the Texas Hub, the Feasibility Study, potential future employment and production, the entering of the lease agreement for the Texas Facility, the revised Project valuation, revised capex estimates, revised production numbers, and the benefits to the Company, which may be implied from such statements.

Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature, they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements due to known and unknown risks and uncertainties affecting the Company, including but not limited to: resource and reserve risks; environmental risks and costs; permitting and regulatory risks; labor costs and shortages; uncertain supply and price fluctuations in materials; increases in energy costs; labor disputes and work stoppages; equipment leasing and availability; heavy equipment demand and availability; contractor and subcontractor performance; worksite safety issues; project delays and cost overruns; extreme weather events; and social, transport, or geopolitical disruptions.

The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements in this press release except as required by law. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release.

SOURCE: HyProMag USA