Oklahoma hosts a $1.2 billion lithium refinery, a battery-recycling plant, a germanium refiner and a rare-earth magnet facility -- a state-level case study for the processing capacity America's critical-minerals push still lacks.
At a glance
- Stardust Power secured long-lead electrical infrastructure from Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company on September 15, 2026, for its $1.2 billion lithium refinery in Muskogee, which broke ground in January 2025 and is being built in two 25,000-metric-ton phases toward 50,000 metric tons of annual capacity.
- Jay Shidler, director of business recruitment at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, argued in a September 17, 2026 op-ed that strengthening America's critical-minerals supply chain requires processing and manufacturing capacity, not just new mines.
- Oklahoma already hosts multiple stages of that chain: USA Rare Earth's 310,000-square-foot rare-earth magnet facility in Stillwater, Green Li-ion's battery-recycling plant in Atoka, and Umicore's Electro-Optic Materials germanium-refining site.
- Green Li-ion's Atoka plant, which opened in 2024, was North America's first commercial-scale facility converting recycled lithium-ion battery waste directly into precursor cathode material, at a capacity of 600 to 1,100 metric tons a year.
What happened
Stardust Power secured long-lead electrical infrastructure from Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company on September 15, 2026, for its $1.2 billion battery-grade lithium carbonate refinery under construction on a 66-acre site in Muskogee's Southside Industrial Park. "As we continue preparing the Muskogee site for future EPC activities, securing critical electrical infrastructure remains an important component of our overall strategy," said Stardust Power chief operating officer Chris Celano. The refinery, which broke ground in January 2025 and carries up to $257 million in state and federal incentives, is being built in two phases of roughly 25,000 metric tons each toward a combined 50,000 metric tons of annual capacity. It's one node in a broader cluster Jay Shidler, director of business recruitment at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, pointed to in a September 17, 2026 op-ed arguing that America's critical-minerals strategy needs processing and manufacturing capacity, not just new mines. Shidler cited USA Rare Earth's 310,000-square-foot rare-earth magnet facility in Stillwater, which began commissioning its first production line earlier in 2026; Green Li-ion's plant in Atoka, which opened in 2024 as North America's first commercial-scale facility turning recycled lithium-ion battery waste directly into cathode material; and Umicore's Electro-Optic Materials site, one of the world's largest refiners and recyclers of germanium -- a material China banned exporting to the US in December 2024 alongside gallium.
The details
Most of the recent argument over America's critical-minerals strategy has stayed abstract: economists and policy analysts pointing to gaps between mining targets and refining capacity, or between refining capacity and finished magnet production, using national projections that arrive by 2035. Jay Shidler's September 17 op-ed takes the same argument and grounds it in one state instead. Oklahoma, he points out, already has a working example of nearly every stage the abstract version describes -- and the newest of those stages just cleared another construction milestone two days before his piece ran.
Stardust Power's Muskogee refinery is the clearest anchor. The company broke ground in January 2025 on a 66-acre site in the city's Southside Industrial Park, backed by up to $257 million in state and federal incentives against a total project cost of $1.2 billion. On September 15, 2026, the company announced it had secured long-lead electrical infrastructure from Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company -- a preparatory step, not yet active construction, but one the company's chief operating officer Chris Celano described as clearing the way for the engineering, procurement and construction work still to come. The refinery is being built in two phases of roughly 25,000 metric tons each, reaching 50,000 metric tons of annual battery-grade lithium carbonate capacity once both are running. Stardust Power's own founder has framed the project bluntly: the US currently has no large-scale refinery for battery-grade lithium at all, which the company argues leaves the country's EV and grid-storage supply chains exposed at exactly the refining step critics of federal policy keep flagging as the bottleneck.
Three other Oklahoma facilities fill in stages the Muskogee refinery doesn't touch. USA Rare Earth's 310,000-square-foot facility in Stillwater began commissioning magnet production earlier in 2026, converting refined rare-earth material into the finished permanent magnets used in EV motors and wind turbines -- the step a separate 2026 IEA projection has identified as the tightest constraint in the US rare-earth chain. Green Li-ion's plant in Atoka runs the supply chain in the opposite direction, taking in end-of-life lithium-ion batteries as unsorted 'black mass' and, since opening in 2024 as North America's first commercial-scale facility of its kind, converting that waste directly into precursor cathode material at a rate of 600 to 1,100 metric tons a year -- capacity that reduces how much fresh ore the battery supply chain needs to mine and refine in the first place. And Umicore's Electro-Optic Materials site refines and recycles germanium, a niche material used in fiber optics and infrared optics that draws more than half its global supply from recycled sources rather than fresh mining.
That last facility carries a sharper edge than the others. In December 2024, China -- which dominates global germanium production -- banned exporting both germanium and gallium to the United States outright, part of an escalating trade dispute over semiconductor technology. Umicore's Oklahoma operation, as one of the world's largest germanium refiners and recyclers, doesn't replace the mined supply China controls, but it does mean the US retains real refining and recycling capacity for a material it can no longer import from its dominant former supplier. Shidler's underlying point is that no single one of these four facilities would make the case on its own -- a magnet plant without refined feedstock, or a lithium refinery without a market for battery-grade output, solves only part of the chain. Together, sited in a single state with a shared logistics base built around the Port of Muskogee, they're closer to the full mine-to-finished-product chain that federal critical-minerals policy has mostly funded in disconnected pieces.
Why it matters
None of these four Oklahoma facilities ship lithium, magnets or germanium to India, but the model they represent is the one Indian policymakers are also wrestling with: mining alone doesn't secure a critical-minerals supply chain if the country still has to send raw material abroad for refining and come back for finished components. Stardust Power's pitch -- that the US has no large-scale battery-grade lithium refinery of its own despite growing EV demand -- describes a gap India's own lithium ambitions share, and Oklahoma's cluster is a live test of whether concentrating refining, recycling and manufacturing in one place, rather than spreading it thinly, is what actually closes that gap.
Our read
Outlook: neutral. This is a state-level industrial-policy case study, not a supply or demand shock. Stardust Power's refinery is still under construction with its most recent milestone limited to securing electrical infrastructure, USA Rare Earth's magnet line only began commissioning in 2026, and Green Li-ion's and Umicore's Oklahoma facilities are small relative to global lithium, rare-earth and germanium markets. The near-term price impact on lithium or related materials is neutral; the relevance is structural, illustrating what a multi-stage domestic processing cluster looks like in practice.
What to watch
- Whether Stardust Power's Muskogee refinery moves from infrastructure preparation into active engineering, procurement and construction following the September 2026 milestone
- Output ramp-up at USA Rare Earth's Stillwater magnet facility after its 2026 production-line commissioning
- Any expansion of Green Li-ion's Atoka recycling capacity beyond its current 600-1,100 metric ton annual range
- Further developments in China's December 2024 germanium and gallium export ban, including any partial easing or additional restrictions
For information only, not investment advice.
Lithium price in India
metalscost.com India reference price as of 2026-10-03.
Detailed analysis
Timeline
- 2023-08: China imposes licensing controls on germanium and gallium exports, requiring exporters to obtain permits for the dual-use materials.
- 2024: Green Li-ion opens its Atoka, Oklahoma plant, North America's first commercial-scale facility converting recycled lithium-ion battery black mass into cathode precursor material.
- 2024-12: China bans exports of germanium, gallium, antimony and superhard materials to the United States, escalating its 2023 licensing controls into an outright ban.
- 2025-01-23: Stardust Power breaks ground on its lithium refinery in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
- 2026: USA Rare Earth commissions the first production line at its 310,000-square-foot rare-earth magnet facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
- 2026-09-15: Stardust Power announces it has secured long-lead electrical infrastructure from Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company for the Muskogee refinery.
- 2026-09-17: Jay Shidler of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce publishes an op-ed in Global Mining Review arguing that America's critical-minerals strategy needs processing and manufacturing capacity beyond new mines.
Supply Drivers
Oklahoma now hosts facilities across four stages of the critical-minerals chain: Stardust Power's $1.2 billion Muskogee lithium refinery (50,000 metric tons annual capacity across two phases), USA Rare Earth's 310,000-square-foot Stillwater magnet plant, Green Li-ion's Atoka battery-recycling facility (600-1,100 metric tons of cathode precursor material a year), and Umicore's Electro-Optic Materials germanium-refining and recycling site. Together they add domestic refining, recycling and manufacturing capacity that mining investment alone does not provide.
Government Policies
Stardust Power's Muskogee refinery carries up to $257 million in combined state and federal incentives against its $1.2 billion total cost. Jay Shidler, an Oklahoma Department of Commerce official who also sits on the Export-Import Bank of the US board of directors, is using the state's facility cluster to argue that federal critical-minerals policy should prioritize processing and manufacturing capacity alongside mining investment.
Trade Tariffs
China banned exports of germanium and gallium to the United States in December 2024, escalating a trade dispute that began with licensing controls in 2023. That ban is the direct backdrop for why Umicore's Oklahoma germanium-refining and recycling capacity -- which draws over half its supply from recycled material -- matters to US supply security specifically for that material.
Geopolitical Risks
China's December 2024 export ban on germanium and gallium to the US left the country without direct access to its dominant former supplier of both materials. Umicore's Oklahoma germanium-refining and recycling operation is one of the few facilities in the country positioned to supply the material domestically, though it supplements rather than replaces the mined tonnage China controlled.
Refinery Output
Stardust Power's Muskogee refinery is targeting 50,000 metric tons of annual battery-grade lithium carbonate capacity, built in two phases of roughly 25,000 metric tons each; the first phase followed a January 2025 groundbreaking, with long-lead electrical infrastructure secured on September 15, 2026. Green Li-ion's Atoka plant, operating since 2024, produces 600 to 1,100 metric tons a year of precursor cathode material from recycled battery black mass.
What could lift prices
- Oklahoma now has facilities spanning four distinct supply-chain stages -- lithium refining, battery recycling, germanium refining and rare-earth magnet manufacturing -- rather than a single isolated project, reducing the risk that any one bottleneck stalls the whole chain.
- Stardust Power's Muskogee refinery cleared a concrete construction milestone on September 15, 2026, moving from site preparation toward engineering, procurement and construction activity.
- China's December 2024 export ban on germanium and gallium gives Umicore's Oklahoma recycling and refining capacity immediate strategic relevance rather than speculative future value.
What could weigh on prices
- Stardust Power's refinery remains under construction, with its September 2026 milestone limited to securing electrical infrastructure rather than beginning active production, meaning meaningful lithium output is still years away.
- Umicore's Oklahoma germanium operation supplements rather than replaces the mined tonnage China's export ban removed, since Umicore's own capacity depends heavily on recycled feedstock rather than primary production.
Country impact
| Country | Impact | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| United States | High | Oklahoma's cluster of lithium refining, battery recycling, germanium refining and rare-earth magnet manufacturing represents a concentrated, multi-stage build-out of exactly the processing and manufacturing capacity critics say US critical-minerals policy has under-funded relative to mining. |
| China | Medium | China's December 2024 export ban on germanium and gallium to the US is the direct reason domestic refining and recycling capacity for those materials, such as Umicore's Oklahoma site, carries added strategic weight. |
Industry impact
| Industry | Effect | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Electric Vehicles | Positive | A domestic battery-grade lithium refinery and a commercial-scale battery-recycling plant both reduce how dependent US EV and battery manufacturers are on imported refined lithium and virgin cathode material. |
| Electronics | Positive | Umicore's Oklahoma germanium-refining and recycling capacity supports fiber-optic and infrared-optic component makers who lost direct access to Chinese-supplied germanium after China's December 2024 export ban. |
| Defense | Positive | USA Rare Earth's Stillwater magnet facility and Umicore's germanium operation both supply materials used in defense electronics and optics that have historically depended on Chinese-controlled processing. |
Who gains, who loses
- Oklahoma's critical-minerals industrial cluster and its workforce: Four separate facilities across the supply chain -- refining, recycling, magnet manufacturing and germanium processing -- concentrate investment, jobs and shared logistics infrastructure in one state.
- US battery and defense-electronics manufacturers seeking non-Chinese refined materials: Domestic lithium refining, battery recycling and germanium refining capacity reduce reliance on Chinese-controlled processing for materials central to EV batteries and defense optics.
- Exporters of raw, unrefined critical-mineral feedstock to the US: As US refining and recycling capacity for lithium, germanium and rare-earth magnet materials grows, demand for shipping unrefined material overseas for processing and back diminishes.
Other ways this could play out
- If Stardust Power's two-phase build-out stays on schedule after this month's infrastructure milestone, Oklahoma could have a functioning large-scale battery-grade lithium refinery online well before most competing US projects.
- If construction financing or permitting delays push back any of Oklahoma's four facilities, the state's cluster could end up illustrating the same gap between announced capacity and actual output that critics have raised about the national critical-minerals push.
Price risks
- Construction delays at Stardust Power's Muskogee refinery, which has only reached an infrastructure-preparation milestone as of September 2026, could push back when new domestic lithium supply actually reaches the market.
- Continued Chinese restrictions on germanium and gallium exports could tighten supply further before Umicore's Oklahoma recycling capacity or other non-Chinese sources can scale to offset it.
Technical view
Price is trading below both its 20-period and 50-period moving averages, a bearish alignment.
Computed from metalscost.com's own stored price history.
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