Neo Performance Materials ships 18,000 magnet samples from new EU facility
April 30, 2025
Neo Performance Materials Inc, Toronto, Canada, has announced that its new permanent magnet facility in Estonia has shipped 18,000 sintered magnet samples, meeting specific magnetic properties, to a Tier 1 traction motor customer. The customer will assemble the magnet pieces into traction motors for performance testing. Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) products are scheduled for the first half of 2026, with mass production to start later that year.
“We are excited to announce this major milestone at our European magnet facility. Delivering the first product from a new facility is a momentous occasion,” stated Rahim Suleman, Neo CEO. “We take pride in our team’s dedication and hard work in winning the award, completing construction on time and on budget, and successfully transitioning the facility into operational mode.”
“This was a global effort for Neo, with our engineering and production teams in Estonia working hand-in-hand with our R&D and development teams in Singapore, Thailand and Europe. We also sincerely thank our customers for their unwavering support and partnership throughout this journey. Their collaboration has been instrumental in helping us achieve this milestone.”
With over thirty years of experience in rare earth magnetics, Neo has built a reliable global supply chain that supports its ability to serve the automotive sector. This industry expertise is expected to position Neo to successfully scale its new sintered magnet facility in Narva, Estonia, and support growing demand. The facility is strategically located near Neo’s rare earth separation facility in Sillamäe, Estonia, which is expected to allow for vertical integration of operations and efficient production processes in the future.
The facility is projected to have an initial production capacity of 2,000 metric tonnes annually, with plans to scale to 5,000 metric tonnes. This US$75 million facility was supported by an up to €18.7 million grant from the EU’s Just Transition Fund and a US$50 million credit facility from Export Development Canada, with construction to be completed in 2025.
At its June 2023 groundbreaking, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recognised the facility as a significant advancement for Estonia and Europe. The facility is said to represent one of Europe’s – and the world’s – most strategic critical materials projects in rare earth magnetics outside of Asia. The expansion will help Neo meet the growing demand for high-performance magnets in EVs and other applications.
