OMAHA - The Pentagon wants to break China’s near-monopoly on rare-earth minerals that are a key element in many of its weapons systems, and it’s betting on a small Nebraska company to help it do that.

In September, the Defense Department awarded a $4.22 million contract to Rare Earth Salts, a Beatrice chemical company with about a dozen employees, to develop and expand its production of terbium, one of the rarest of the rare-earth elements. It’s the first Defense Department contract for the company, which opened its 25,000-square-foot plant in 2017. Terbium boosts the resiliency in extreme temperatures of certain types of magnets used in military aircraft, submarines, and missiles, according to a Pentagon statement that accompanied the contract award.

“This award adds a domestic source for one of the most difficult-to-obtain rare-earth elements,” said Laura Taylor-Kale, assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy, in the statement. “Rare Earth Salts’ capability will help the United States establish a mine-to-magnet supply chain without reliance on foreign sources of material.”

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