Phoenix Tailings Picks Rochester for $375M Rare Earth Separation Plant

Phoenix Tailings has selected Eastman Business Park in Rochester for Freedom Separation, a commercial-scale rare earth separation plant that Governor Kathy Hochul put at $375 million and 500,000 square feet. The company announced the site on Tuesday morning, October 20, and expects production to begin ramping in 2027. This is a developing story.

What Happened

Phoenix Tailings, a rare earth processing company, said it chose Eastman Business Park after a nationwide search for the separation stage of its Freedom Project, which it describes as an integrated separation and metallization platform worth more than $1.2 billion (GlobeNewswire). The Rochester plant will take mixed rare earth feedstocks, both mined and recycled, and turn them into separated oxides that feed domestic rare earth metal production (GlobeNewswire).

Governor Hochul announced the project the same day, describing a $375 million, 500,000 square foot commercial-scale facility at the park, according to Reuters, via Devdiscourse. U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer also backed the project in the company's announcement (GlobeNewswire).

What Is Confirmed

• Location: Eastman Business Park in Rochester (GlobeNewswire).
• Size and cost: $375 million and 500,000 square feet, per the governor's statement (Reuters, via Devdiscourse). The company's release does not state a Rochester site cost or square footage.
• Capacity: More than 18,000 tons per year of rare earth feedstock in and more than 4,400 tons per year of separated oxides out at full capacity, which the company expects to rank among the largest rare earth separation operations in the world (GlobeNewswire).
• Schedule: Production ramps in 2027, with full production in 2028 (GlobeNewswire).
• Jobs: 90 direct jobs at launch and more than 200 when fully operational. The company says the wider Freedom platform will support more than 500 jobs across New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and a future location it has not named (GlobeNewswire).
• State incentive: New York will provide $3 million in performance-based tax credits (Reuters, via Devdiscourse).
• Federal financing: The Freedom Project holds a $500 million conditional loan commitment from the Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital (GlobeNewswire).

Background on the Federal Loan

The Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital first disclosed the conditional $500 million in long-term debt financing in June. At that time it was described as anchoring a roughly $1 billion project to process mined concentrates and recycled scrap into light and heavy rare earth metals, with the final loan subject to financial, legal and technical due diligence (Reuters, via MINING.COM). That report identified Phoenix Tailings as a startup backed by BMW and Sumitomo (Reuters, via MINING.COM). Tuesday's announcement is the first time the company has named Rochester as the separation site.

The financing pattern is familiar in New York. Wolfspeed recently secured a separate conditional federal loan of up to $1.5 billion tied to its Marcy fab, which we covered in Wolfspeed Lands Conditional $1.5B Federal Loan. In both cases the loan is conditional and not yet closed.

Why Rochester

The company pointed to Eastman Business Park's existing industrial infrastructure and to the local workforce in engineering, advanced manufacturing, chemical processing and plant operations (GlobeNewswire). CEO and co-founder Nick Myers cited family ties to the region and the need for experienced plant workers, saying "Rochester has those people" (GlobeNewswire). Governor Hochul framed the plant as a way to cut reliance on foreign sources of critical minerals (Reuters, via Devdiscourse).

The park has been drawing large process manufacturing projects. Earlier this year Reju chose an 18.9-acre site there for a $390 million textile regeneration hub, covered in Reju Picks Rochester for Its First U.S. Textile Recycling Hub.

What It Means for Owners and Contractors

A 500,000 square foot chemical separation plant is a heavy industrial job. If it follows the norm for this type of facility, the work will lean on process piping, tank and vessel installation, containment, ventilation and emissions controls, and substantial electrical and utility service, in addition to the building shell. A production ramp in 2027 leaves a short window for design, permitting and construction, so procurement of long-lead equipment and electrical gear will likely move early.

For Rochester area subcontractors, the project adds to a regional pipeline already stretched by semiconductor, power and housing work. National data show the same pressure: roughly $500 billion in U.S. factories are under construction, as reported in $500B in U.S. Factories Under Construction. Firms that want a role should track the project's design team and construction manager selections once they are announced.

What Is Not Yet Known

• The design firm, engineer of record and construction manager or general contractor. None were named in the announcement.
• The specific parcel within Eastman Business Park and whether it needs remediation or demolition first.
• Permitting status, environmental review and any local incentive applications, such as with COMIDA.
• A construction start date and whether the $500 million federal loan has closed.

What to Watch

Look for Empire State Development and Monroe County filings that spell out incentive terms and job commitments, environmental review documents for the site, and the company's announcement of its delivery team. We will update this story as details are confirmed.

Related Coverage

• Reju Picks Rochester for Its First U.S. Textile Recycling Hub: A $390 Million Bet on Circular Manufacturing
• Wolfspeed Lands Conditional $1.5B Federal Loan, Plans More Volume at Marcy Fab
• $500B in U.S. Factories Under Construction as $3.4T Pipeline Waits

Image credit: waa towaw on Unsplash. Free license photo; no acceptable image was available from the source articles. Representative industrial plant, not the Phoenix Tailings site.

Sources

• GlobeNewswire (Phoenix Tailings press release), "Phoenix Tailings Selects Rochester, NY, as the Rare Earth Separation Center for the $1.2B+ Freedom Project": https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/10/20/3384595/0/en/phoenix-tailings-selects-rochester-ny-as-the-rare-earth-separation-center-for-the-1-2b-freedom-project.html
• Reuters, via Devdiscourse, "Phoenix Tailings to build $375-million rare earths facility in New York state": https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/international/3995214-phoenix-tailings-to-build-375-million-rare-earths-facility-in-new-york-state
• Reuters, via MINING.COM, "Pentagon commits $500 million loan to Phoenix Tailings for rare earth plant": https://www.mining.com/web/pentagon-commits-500-million-loan-to-phoenix-tailings-for-rare-earth-plant/