Procurement teams evaluating rare-earth separation, refining, and recovery equipment now have two distinct development signals: a US-backed Malaysian refining platform intended to reduce China dependence, and a research route for recovering rare earth elements and transition metals from spent NiMH batteries. Neither source establishes current commercial-scale performance for equipment purchases, but both highlight where future processing demand and supply diversification may emerge.
Executive procurement view
DTEC Mineral and Metal Technology is planning a US$600 million (S$770 million) Malaysian rare-earth refinery, with an initial processing capacity of 5,000 tonnes annually and a long-term target of two facilities producing 10,000 tonnes a year. The company expects to establish the facility within three years and is evaluating sites in Kedah, Terengganu, Perak, and Negeri Sembilan [S1].
The investment is tied to an explicit supply-chain objective: develop a critical-minerals chain that helps Washington reduce reliance on China and position Malaysia as a regional processing hub for ionic clay [S1]. For buyers of rare-earth processing equipment, this is a potential anchor project rather than a mature procurement program: site selection and processing-technology evaluation were still underway, while much of Malaysia’s estimated rare-earth resource remained commercially unproven [S1].
A separate technical study identifies spent nickel-metal hydride batteries as concentrated secondary resources containing transition metals and critical rare earth elements. Its reported electrode-powder composition gives engineers a concrete feedstock basis for assessing recovery equipment, although the source is a research article rather than evidence of a commercial plant [S2].
DTEC’s Malaysian refinery opportunity
DTEC plans to develop locally sourced ionic-clay deposits and eventually operate its own mine. Malaysia’s identified rare-earth resources are estimated at 16.1 million tonnes, but much of that resource is commercially unproven; procurement should therefore distinguish national resource estimates from demonstrated, bankable feedstock [S1].
The proposed network comprises an east-coast plant for 5,000 metric tons and a west-coast plant for 5,000 metric tons, reaching 10,000 metric tons of combined annual output. DTEC’s first planned facility carries 5,000 tonnes of initial annual processing capacity [S1]. Equipment suppliers should track the site decision and commissioning schedule because process configuration, site infrastructure, and supplier scope may change as the company selects processing technology [S1].
DTEC recently became the first company permitted under Malaysia’s relaxed export regulations to ship unprocessed rare-earth material to the United States. To determine the most suitable processing technology, it is preparing to ship 30 tonnes of unprocessed material to the US for research and has secured approval to export up to 700 tonnes [S1]. This trial shipment is the clearest near-term technical-validation milestone for prospective equipment and reagent suppliers.
Market, ownership, and delivery context
DTEC is primarily US-owned. Chief executive officer Milan Perlly holds a 51 per cent stake alongside business partner David Greer, while local firm DTEC Engineering and Construction owns the remaining 49 per cent. Perlly is a Malaysian-born US citizen and former Capital One executive [S1]. The startup also harbours ambitions for a dual listing on Bursa Malaysia and either the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange, indicating that its corporate-development program is at an early stage [S1].
The refinery would expand Malaysia’s rare-earth footprint beyond existing Pahang operations run by Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths Ltd [S1]. That creates potential demand for separation, leaching, precipitation, filtration, drying, and handling systems, but the material does not specify the selected flowsheet, equipment packages, vendors, or delivery dates. Buyers should avoid treating the announced capacity and three-year establishment target as committed equipment orders [S1].
The project’s rationale is supported by the composition of Malaysian deposits. Much of the country’s identified rare-earth wealth lies in ion-adsorption clay deposits, where elements bind loosely to clay rather than hard rock; the source describes this as making extraction cheaper and more efficient. These clays contain heavy rare earths important to electric vehicles, wind turbines, and advanced military technology [S1].
Spent NiMH batteries as an alternate feedstock
The research material positions spent NiMH batteries as an “urban mine” containing valuable transition metals and critical rare earth elements. Although lithium-ion batteries currently dominate the market, NiMH batteries remain extensively used in hybrid electric vehicles and specific consumer applications, and also remain relevant for long-duration stationary energy storage [S2]. This supports equipment developers seeking non-primary rare-earth feedstocks, but it does not quantify available end-of-life volumes in the supplied material [S2].
After external casings and plastics are separated, the resulting electrode powder is reported to average approximately 51% nickel, 6% cobalt, 6% manganese, 8% lanthanum, 5% cerium, and 3% neodymium [S2]. For engineers, this is a meaningful design input for recovery flowsheets because the material combines substantial base-metal content with multiple rare earths. Recovery-system specifications should therefore consider integrated handling of both groups rather than a rare-earth-only process [S2].
The study’s title and framing concern integrated recovery of rare earth elements and transition metals from spent NiMH batteries, making it directly relevant to preliminary equipment screening. However, the supplied excerpt does not report process yield, reagent consumption, throughput, product purity, operating cost, equipment configuration, or commercial-scale validation. It should be used to define test objectives and feedstock-characterization requirements, not to select production equipment or claim an economic recovery route [S2].
Recommended procurement actions
Maintain DTEC as a high-priority watchlist project, but gate commercial quotations and engineering commitments on the 30-tonne US research shipment, processing-technology selection, final site choice, and confirmation of local feedstock. Request flowsheets, duty-cycle assumptions, feed assays, product specifications, and commissioning schedules before comparing offers [S1].
Structure supplier discussions around the proposed 5,000-tonne initial plant and possible second 5,000-tonne plant, while avoiding assumptions that both facilities are funded or awarded. Because ownership and the proposed dual listing remain part of DTEC’s development profile, assess counterparty and project-financing readiness alongside technical capability [S1].
For battery-recovery equipment, require representative black-mass sampling and assay work before fixing capacity or guarantees. Engineering evaluations should explicitly address the reported nickel, cobalt, manganese, lanthanum, cerium, and neodymium fractions and test whether integrated separation can produce saleable outputs from this mixed feedstock. The research source supports further technical diligence, not a direct production award [S2].