In a statement released today, the company noted that production takes place at the Rare Earths & Magnetics Innovation Center in Barcelos, where it develops and validates solutions for the recovery and purification of these materials.

According to N9VE, rare earths are critical raw materials for sectors such as wind energy, electric mobility, advanced electronics, robotics, and defense—areas where Europe remains heavily dependent on imports.

The company’s CEO, José Pinheiro-Torres, was quoted in the statement as saying that "time is of the essence for Europe," highlighting that opening new mines can take over 16 years to reach the production stage, even as thousands of wind turbines approach the end of their service life.

"This reality creates an immediate opportunity: to recover rare earths already within European territory and transform them into a new strategic source for industry," he added.

The company explained that in wind turbines using permanent magnets, these components can account for several tons per unit and contain approximately 30% rare earth materials.

N9VE maintained that recovering previously extracted rare earths reduces the need for new raw materials, preserves material value, and promotes a more circular economy.

The company aligns this development with the priorities of the European Union’s (EU) Critical Raw Materials Act, which aims to strengthen Europe's capacity regarding critical raw materials and reduce external dependency.

The development of this technology at an industrial scale is being carried out under the N9VE.REEnew project, co-financed by COMPETE 2030, Portugal 2030, and the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).