Critical Minerals Factbook
Facility

Vacuumschmelze Hanau

VACUUMSCHMELZE's (VAC) home site in Hanau, Germany — headquarters of the century-old advanced magnetic materials producer that launched the sintered NdFeB VACODYM series in the mid-1980s and is described (October 2023 acquisition release) as the only Western manufacturer of sintered NdFeB EV-grade permanent magnets. VAC (Hanau) was a participant in the H2020 SecREEts project piloting production of Pr/Nd/Dy metals for permanent magnets. Confidence note: material-flow and operating-status claims on both lines are marked 'inferred' because the dated primary sources verified in this pass attest VAC's alloy and sintered-magnet production at company level and place the participant/home office in Hanau, but do not explicitly itemize which production steps run at the Hanau site today (VAC also lists manufacturing in Slovakia, Finland, China and Malaysia). No capacity figures are recorded — none were found in verifiable sources.

Facts on this page last re-verified Aug 11, 2026 — the oldest verification date among its current claims. How we verify.

Location: Hanau, Hesse, Germany

Metals & alloys

Rare earth magnet alloy production

Operating

Melting and rapid solidification of magnetic alloys, the historical core of VAC's Hanau operations (site III in Hanau harbour, developed 1981, per VAC company history)

Material flow

NdPr Metal → NdFeB Alloy

Capacity

No capacity claim. Absence of a figure means no source publishes one.

Qualification

No qualification claim. Status does not imply qualified output.

Magnets

Sintered NdFeB permanent magnet production (VACODYM)

Operating

Powder-metallurgical sintered NdFeB permanent magnets (VACODYM series, launched mid-1980s), produced in HR, TP and AP process variants

Material flow

NdFeB Alloy → Sintered NdFeB Magnet

Capacity

No capacity claim. Absence of a figure means no source publishes one.

Qualification

No qualification claim. Status does not imply qualified output.

Sources