A new iron magnet — invented in Minnesota — could shrink reliance on China for EV batteries and cell phones

Inside an office park in northeast Minneapolis last week, a local musician played the Star Spangled Banner on an electric guitar — Jimi Hendrix style — for a bipartisan crowd of politicians and business leaders.

The music was more than an ear-splitting introduction to a ribbon cutting. The guitar's pickups were built with unusual magnets made with iron and nitrogen. Originating in a University of Minnesota laboratory, that technology could help the U.S. energy transition amid a fierce global competition for critical metals.

Currently, magnets overwhelmingly come from a group of 17 metals called rare earth elements produced largely by China. At the event, U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, a Minnesota DFLer, described that dependence as a threat to national security.

Niron Magnetics says it can be a new domestic magnet source beyond cool guitars to include cell phones, speakers, weapons, electric vehicle motors and wind turbines.

"We're commercializing the first new magnetic material in 40 years," said Niron CEO Jonathan Rowntree.

The company on Thursday was celebrating the opening of its first plant, a pilot operation that is the result of 20 years of research and testing subsidized by the federal government.

Niron is also planning its full-scale facility near St. Cloud and is already talking about additional plants.

Matt Kirkwold played an electric guitar made with Niron Magnetics Clean Earth Magnet technology at a launch event at Niron Magnetics on Thursday. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune) Magnetic breakthrough draws attention Niron's magnets started with University of Minnesota professor Jian-Ping Wang, who unlocked a highly magnetic material called iron nitride.

Niron says it will employ 175 people at the Sartell plant, and is negotiating subsidies with the city.

Jonathan Rowntree, CEO of Niron Magnetics, shakes hands with U.S. Representative Betty McCollum during a launch event at Niron Magnetics on Thursday. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune) At Niron's event last week, leaders from GM and DOE spoke. So did Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and three members of Congress from Minnesota: McCollum, Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber and Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

Daniel Bouie, principal of GM Ventures, said Niron's magnets are a "groundbreaking advance for our industry."

McCollum, the top Democrat on a defense subcommittee, said China's influence over rare earth metals is "a danger to our national security" and a "danger to our economic security."

"We need to do more about it, and Niron's doing just that," she said.