USA Rare Earth Q2 Earnings Call Highlights

Key Points

• Q2 financial results: USA Rare Earth reported approximately $6 million in revenue and a $10.3 million net loss, while higher heavy rare-earth input costs pressured margins. The company has raised product prices and expects the benefits to appear in coming quarters.
• Supply-chain expansion: The company expects its Serra Verde acquisition to close shortly after an Aug. 28 shareholder vote, with the project targeting 6,400 metric tons of rare-earth oxide capacity by the end of 2027. USA Rare Earth also advanced its Round Top mine, processing facilities and Commerce Department funding program.
• Magnet growth and leadership change: Stillwater is targeting 600 metric tons of annual magnet capacity by year-end, while the company is in discussions with more than 100 potential customers and expects its first magnet sales by year-end. CEO Barbara Humpton will be succeeded by Thras Moraitis on Oct. 1.

USA Rare Earth NASDAQ: USAR reported second-quarter revenue of approximately $6 million, generated by third-party sales from its Less Common Metals metal and alloy-making business, while outlining progress on its mine-to-magnet supply chain strategy outside China.

The company reported a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $10.3 million, or $0.05 per share. The result included a non-cash fair-value adjustment of about $22.4 million related to warrant and earnout liabilities. Excluding that adjustment, adjusted net loss was $33.5 million, or $0.15 per share.

Chief Financial Officer Rob Steele said gross margins were affected by higher raw-material input costs amid supply constraints, particularly for heavy rare earths. The company is pursuing alternative supply sources ahead of expected feedstock access from Serra Verde and Carester. Steele said USA Rare Earth has already raised prices on its products and expects the impact to become visible in upcoming quarters.

Serra Verde vote and integrated supply-chain plans

Chief Executive Officer Barbara Humpton said the company is seeking to establish an integrated rare-earth platform spanning mining, processing, metal and alloy production, and magnet manufacturing. She cited Chinese export restrictions and rising Western prices for certain heavy rare earths as evidence of the need for supply chains outside China.

During the quarter, USA Rare Earth announced its intended acquisition of Serra Verde, invested in rare-earth processor Carester, and selected Blacksburg, South Carolina, for a second U.S. metals and magnet facility. The company also signed definitive documentation with the Department of Commerce for a milestone-based capital-expenditure reimbursement program.

The Serra Verde transaction’s shareholder vote is scheduled for Aug. 28, which Steele said was the final remaining closing condition. He said there are no remaining regulatory hurdles and that the acquisition is expected to close shortly following the vote.

Serra Verde is targeting run-rate capacity of 6,400 metric tons of total rare earth oxides by the end of 2027, Steele said. Humpton said the operation’s optimization and growth project was being recommissioned and was developing toward a commercial-production restart and ramp-up on time and within budget.

USA Rare Earth ended the quarter with approximately $1.5 billion in cash and cash equivalents and recorded $66 million in capital expenditures. Steele said the company expects to seek its first Commerce Department reimbursement distribution in the coming months.

Round Top and processing developments

At the company’s Round Top project, USA Rare Earth began a resource-upgrade drilling campaign involving more than 10,000 feet of core across three rigs. Early assay results were in line with expectations for resource grade and confirmed heavy rare-earth distribution above 70%, according to Steele.

The company remains on schedule to complete its definitive feasibility study by year-end and publish an S-K 1300 technical report in early 2027. Round Top is targeted to begin commercial operations in late 2028.

At its Wheat Ridge, Colorado, research and development headquarters, USA Rare Earth commissioned a hydrometallurgical facility during June. The site is operating three demonstration circuits: the Round Top flowsheet, third-party mixed rare-earth carbonate separation, and magnet-swarf recycling. The data will support the Round Top feasibility study as well as engineering for a consolidated separation plant.

Humpton said the company produced its first commercial-grade dysprosium and NdPr oxide samples from recycled magnet-manufacturing swarf in July. During the analyst question-and-answer session, Steele said swarf could represent 20% to 30% of finished magnet production and potentially account for a similar share of future raw-material supply if recycled into oxides, metals and magnets.

Magnet production and customer pipeline

USA Rare Earth said its Stillwater magnet operation had grown to 140 employees and is targeting 200 employees by year-end. The company expects to have 600 metric tons of annual run-rate magnet capacity at Stillwater by year-end, followed by an additional 600 metric tons in the first quarter of the following year.

Steele said Stillwater is expected ultimately to reach 3,600 metric tons of magnet-making capacity and 5,000 metric tons of metal-making capacity. The later-stage Blacksburg facility is expected to begin operating in early 2028, with its building shell due for completion at the end of 2027. Blacksburg is planned to have 5,000 metric tons of metal-making capacity and 6,400 metric tons of magnet-making capacity.

Across its magnet business, the company is in active commercial discussions with more than 100 potential customers, including more than 20 in qualification discussions. It has secured memorandums of understanding and letters of intent representing 2,500 metric tons of annual demand from large multinational customers in aerospace and defense, industrial automation, industrial motors and automotive markets.

Steele said the company has also received production purchase orders, prototype orders for finished parts and orders for semi-finished magnet blocks. Qualification timelines vary by customer, application and product requirements, but the company expects its first magnet sales by year-end. The company did not quantify the purchase orders that have resulted from prior memorandums of understanding.

Leadership transition

Humpton said the call would be her final quarterly earnings call as chief executive. Thras Moraitis is scheduled to take over as CEO on Oct. 1. Humpton said she intends to remain focused on the business through the transition.

About USA Rare Earth (NASDAQ:USAR)

USA Rare Earth NASDAQ: USAR is a development-stage critical minerals company focused on advancing a fully integrated rare earth element (REE) and lithium project in the United States. Its flagship asset is the Round Top deposit in West Texas, a large, polymetallic concentration of light and heavy rare earth elements, lithium and other co-products. The company seeks to move this asset through resource delineation, pilot-scale processing and eventual commercial production to address growing domestic demand for secure REE supply chains.

In addition to exploration, USA Rare Earth is engineering an on-site separation facility that will utilize dry magnetic separation and hydrometallurgical flowsheets to produce mixed rare earth carbonates.

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