Clarios, a U.S.-based global manufacturer and recycler of low-voltage batteries, plans to invest up to $1 billion to build a U.S. critical minerals processing and recovery plant, according to a May 20 press release. The project aligns with the Trump administration’s goal to boost the domestic metals supply chain and responds to China’s export ban on critical minerals.
Clarios is in talks with officials from Indiana, Texas, and Utah about possible locations, the release said. The project is the first under the company’s $6 billion U.S. energy manufacturing plan, which includes $1.9 billion for critical minerals processing and recovery.
“We have a number of other investments we're actively exploring and anticipate additional announcements in the future,” Adam Muellerweiss, Clarios chief sustainability officer, said in an email to Supply Chain Dive.
The planned facility would extract metalloid antimony from used batteries collected across the U.S. to bolster domestic battery production, Muellerweiss said at the Securing American Battery Technologies Summit, held the same day as the plant announcement.
In December, China banned the export of antimony and other critical minerals used in military and civilian applications to the U.S. That action significantly raised the need for Clarios’ recycling plant, Muellerweiss said, noting that recycled batteries "have the most antimony of any source here in the United States.”
In an email, Muellerweiss said actions taken by Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden have made it possible for Clarios to invest in bolstering the nation’s critical mineral supply.
Since January, Trump has issued nine executive orders that affected critical mineral processing, refining and deployment, Muellerweiss said. In 2022, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which established the Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit. The AMPTC is also known as the 45x tax credit.
"We aim to utilize the 45x tax credit to take initiative on President Trump's executive orders and agenda to revitalize America's industrial base,” Muellerweiss said. “Our anticipated $1 billion critical minerals processing and refining plant will be an important part of strengthening not only our supply chain as a company, but the nation's supply chain.”
Muellerweiss added that Congress should extend elements of the 45x tax credit that expire in 2032 by at least a decade “to make America dominant in critical mineral processing and refining.”
