When the federal government announced last week an Australia-based company had won a multimillion defense contract, the news echoed in a small farming town 40 miles west of San Antonio.
The Department of Defense awarded Lynas Rare Earths, the largest such mining and processing company outside of China, a technology investment agreement worth $30 million to establish U.S-based processing capabilities for light rare-earth elements.
The facility will be located in the city of Hondo, the seat of Medina County with about 9,000 residents, where a familiar welcome sign has long greeted drivers with a warning: “This is God’s country. Don’t drive through it like hell.”
The Feb. 1 announcement of the contract took local officials by surprise and sparked concerns from residents about the facility’s potential to cause air pollution and water contamination, despite the possible creation of 100 new jobs.
Rare-earth elements are what make your iPhone vibrate when it rings and enable hard drives to be smaller and more efficient. But there are many uses for the group of 15 minerals used in military equipment and consumer electronics.
MORE IN BUSINESS & DEVELOPMENT
(20min delay)