DTEC Mineral plans $600 million rare-earth refinery in Malaysia

DTEC Mineral and Metal Technology, a startup with US majority ownership, plans to invest $600 million to build rare-earth refineries in Malaysia. CEO Milan Perlly stated the company aims to establish two facilities with a combined annual capacity of 10,000 metric tonnes. The project is intended to support efforts by Malaysia and the United States to develop critical mineral supply chains outside of China.

As part of this initiative, Malaysia has approved DTEC to export up to 700 metric tonnes of rare-earth carbonate from Perak to the United States for separation and refining research. This marks the first approval under Malaysia’s updated export rules, which were introduced in 2024 to encourage domestic processing. The initial shipment of approximately 30 tonnes is intended for testing to help develop local expertise and technology.

Perlly noted that the company intends to bring separation technology back to Malaysia, with the long-term goal of making the country a regional processing hub for ionic clay deposits. These deposits are considered potentially easier and cheaper to extract than hard rock minerals and can contain heavy rare earths used in advanced technologies, including electric vehicles and wind turbines.