ELLESMERE PORT, UK – Less Common Metals (LCM), a leading manufacturer of rare earth metals and alloys, and Xplore!, a premier Science Discovery Centre in North Wales, are proud to announce the successful organisation of the “Mine to Magnet” school workshop. This hands-on educational workshop, supported by Innovate UK funding, is designed to teach primary school students about the crucial role of rare earth metals in sustainable technologies.

With the UK’s Net Zero 2050 targets midway, LCM recognised the critical need to engage young people in the metals and mining industry. The “Mine to Magnet” workshop was created to bridge the knowledge gap and show students the materials behind clean technologies and why magnets are essential for the machines of tomorrow.

“Working in the rare metals industry really highlighted to me how crucial it is to engage young people in what we do,” said Georgia Rigoni, Workshop Lead and Communications Executive at LCM. “Especially with the upcoming Green Targets, it really made me question if the children of today understand what’s actually needed for wind turbines, electric vehicles and solar panels. So I really wanted to engage with Xplore! to create this project to prepare the next generation with what’s to come.”

The workshop takes students on a journey through the entire supply chain, from mining and separation to alloy melting and finally, to making the permanent magnets found inside electric motors. A key objective of the program is to demonstrate how raw materials and alloys are transformed into the powerful magnets that drive green energy technologies.

Sean Bennett, who is the Project Manager at LCM, was also present and mentioned, “Less Common Metals is a midstream supplier of metals and alloys that go on to the manufacture of permanent magnets. These workshops are important because they raise awareness among the younger generations of what types of jobs are out there in the industry. There’s going to be miners and engineers needed throughout, scientists, metallurgists, and then ultimately people who can turn raw materials and alloys into magnets to drive green energies.”

“I know that Less Common Metals was keen to let people know about the project that they were working on, and this is where our connection came in,” said Katie Williams, Business Development Officer at Xplore!. “So we got together and started working with the team on the delivery of a workshop that helped to explain the process that Less Common Metals were going through.”

With the program, thousands of students have already been reached, with a recent funding boost from Innovate UK. Thus, enabling its expansion to an additional 2,000 children over the next academic year.

“The main goal of the ‘Mine to Magnet’ workshop is actually to scale it up and roll it out nationally,” Rigoni added. “We’d really, really like a lot more schools to get involved. Hence why we’re approaching science centres across the UK to train their staff and get them involved, to then roll out to their local community.”