10 Firms Stealing the Spotlight; 4 Are Climbing to Record Highs

4. USA Rare Earth Inc. (NASDAQ:USAR)

USA Rare Earth rebounded by 12.13 percent on Thursday to finish at $18.77 apiece as investors cheered plans to accelerate the commercial production of its Round Top heavy rare earth deposit in Texas two years earlier than projected.

In a statement, USA Rare Earth Inc. (NASDAQ:USAR) said that it now plans to kick off commercial operations of the said deposit in 2028 in a bid to capture the rapidly growing demand for the said metals.

“Beginning commercial production at Round Top two years earlier than anticipated would be an exciting milestone made possible by the team’s technical capabilities, process knowledge, and ingenuity. As global demand for rare earth magnets continues to rise and geopolitical risks escalate, accelerating domestic production is essential for securing the long-term competitiveness of US manufacturing,” said USA Rare Earth Inc. (NASDAQ:USAR) CEO Barbara Humpton.

Additionally, the company is set to start the operations of its Hydromet demonstration facility in Colorado early in 2026, based on the promising results of its recent and ongoing solvent extraction piloting.

The Hydromet facility will operate five solvent-extraction (SX) circuits continuously, for 2,000 to 4,000 hours, to generate the operational data required to proceed with commercial plant design. These circuits will target heavy rare earth elements, particularly dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb), which are essential for high-performance permanent magnets, while also extracting additional critical minerals including hafnium and zirconium.

“This novel parallel-process approach is expected to save the Company tens of millions of dollars, while enabling USAR to complete its definitive feasibility study (DFS) by early 2027. Earlier completion of the DFS would allow USAR to move into commercial production at Round Top by late 2028,” USA Rare Earth Inc. (NASDAQ:USAR) said.