USA Rare Earth Inc. is acquiring Brazil’s Serra Verde Group in a roughly $2.8 billion cash-and-stock deal, part of a broader push by the U.S. and its allies to secure independent supplies of critical minerals, according to CNBC and Bloomberg. 

The agreement includes $300 million in cash and a large share issuance, with the transaction expected to close in the third quarter.

The deal comes amid rising concern over China’s dominance in rare earths—a group of 17 elements essential for modern technologies ranging from smartphones to electric vehicles and military systems. As CEO Barbara Humpton put it, “The world has become too dependent on a single source and it’s high time to break that dependency.” She added that the acquisition provides “access to a producing mine that produces the four magnetic rare earths that are going to be serving our industry.”

Serra Verde’s asset is especially valuable because it can supply key magnet materials—neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium—which are critical for high-performance permanent magnets. The mine is also backed by a long-term offtake agreement tied to U.S. government-related entities, covering 100% of production for those four elements.

Strategically, the acquisition accelerates USA Rare Earth’s goal of building a fully integrated supply chain spanning “mining, separation, metalization and magnet manufacturing.” It also reflects a wider industry shift following China’s export restrictions, which exposed vulnerabilities in global supply chains.

Serra Verde CEO Thras Moraitis emphasized the broader stakes, describing rare earths as “a strategic nexus where national and energy security, and technological supremacy, converge.”

He noted that Western governments are increasingly stepping in to support the sector, as it reaches a “critical inflection point” in the effort to develop reliable, non-China sources—especially for scarce heavy rare earth elements.