Quantum computing meets rare earths
USA Rare Earth, Pasqal and Riven Partner to Transform Mineral Separation Processing
Anonymous
USA Rare Earth, Pasqal and Riven Systems are partnering to develop next-generation technology for separating rare earth elements, a process crucial to expanding production outside Asia. Riven plans to use its autonomous laboratory and artificial intelligence to conduct experiments and model which chemical extractants most effectively separate individual rare earths from mixed material. Pasqal will use its neutral-atom quantum processor to compare quantum machine-learning models with classical models, helping USA Rare Earth optimize extractant selection. The companies say improved chemistry could enable smaller, cheaper and less energy-intensive processing facilities, strengthening Western supply-chain resilience and reducing reliance on China, which dominates separation of heavy rare earths such as dysprosium, terbium and yttrium. They expect the initial project could lead to a broader collaboration spanning computational discovery, automated testing and validation at USA Rare Earth’s research facilities.
Key Points
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The partnership combines U.S. and French capabilities in two strategic areas—critical minerals and quantum computing—with USA Rare Earth providing rare-earth processing expertise, Riven its self-driving minerals-separation laboratory and Pasqal its quantum-computing capabilities.
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Riven plans to conduct thousands of automated experiments to generate the training data for machine-learning models that assess extractant selectivity.
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The technical challenge is specifically converting Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate produced by upstream operations into individual separated oxides, rather than merely processing generic mixed rare-earth material.
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USA Rare Earth shares rose 2.9% in premarket trading after the partnership was announced, indicating an immediate market reaction to the deal.
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Riven described the collaboration as part of a broader effort to translate advances in computing into scaled industrial chemistry and bring additional rare-earth processing capacity online in the United States and allied countries.
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