Rare Earth Elements: The Next Big Opportunity for Small Businesses in the Southeast
The Growing Demand for Rare Earth Elements in Emerging Technologies
At Legacy Holdings, we focus not on speculative rare earth mining companies themselves, but on the essential supporting industries that enable, protect, and sustain the rare earth elements sector. These “pick-and-shovel” businesses are critical as the U.S. advances toward rare earth independence through sustainable mining practices. This post highlights five key sectors poised to benefit from the growing demand for rare earth element processing and sustainable mining.
The United States is entering a new era of resource development driven by artificial intelligence, electric vehicle market growth, and renewable energy. This surge has intensified the need for critical raw materials, especially rare earth elements, historically dominated by China but now a national priority for domestic supply.
In response to geopolitical tensions and fragile supply chains, the U.S. is fast-tracking efforts to build a secure domestic rare earth supply chain. One promising region is the Southeastern U.S., particularly Virginia and North Carolina, where geology supports cost-effective, environmentally friendly extraction methods using ion-adsorption clay deposits—key to sustainable mining.
While the rare earth sector holds great promise, it is complex. From exploration and environmental regulation to rare earth element processing, transportation, and sustainability, a coordinated ecosystem of specialized businesses is essential.
Five Critical Sectors Powering Sustainable Rare Earth Element Mining and Processing:
1. Construction: Roads, Site Prep & Staging Areas
Before a single ounce of REE is extracted, entire operations must be built—often in remote or undeveloped areas. That means access roads, site grading, equipment staging, drainage infrastructure, and more. Small and mid-sized construction firms that specialize in industrial and mining-adjacent site work are in high demand. These companies are often the first boots on the ground and have repeat value across multiple sites.
2. Industrial HVAC & Ventilation
Mining environments—especially those dealing with dust, underground operations, or enclosed processing centers—depend heavily on specialized HVAC systems to protect both workers and equipment.
In places like Denver, where mining intersects with high altitude and climate extremes, HVAC companies do more than temperature control. They engineer full ventilation systems to ensure safe oxygen levels, regulate humidity for equipment rooms, and deploy air filtration systems to meet environmental standards.
These aren’t optional services; they are mission-critical. Providers who offer ventilation design, climate control for control rooms, dust filtration, and 24/7 emergency service become embedded partners in long-term operations. These businesses are technical, high-trust, and generate recurring revenue.
3. Battery Recycling & Materials Reuse
As demand for batteries skyrockets, so does the need to recycle them. Rare earths are not only mined—they can be recovered from old electronics, EVs, and industrial equipment. Urban mining and materials reuse businesses are rising fast, offering solutions that are both economically and environmentally sustainable.
Companies that specialize in lithium, cobalt, and rare earth recovery will be essential to closing the loop on America’s critical materials strategy.
4. Dust Filtration & Air Quality Services
Mining produces airborne dust that threatens human health and machinery lifespan. Businesses that install and maintain industrial-scale dust suppression and air purification systems will be a vital part of every REE operation. These services aren’t just about compliance—they improve uptime, extend equipment life, and reduce regulatory risk.
HVAC and environmental services often intersect here, with firms providing integrated air quality solutions that cover both indoor systems and outdoor dust management.
5. Water Management & Treatment
Extracting rare earths, even from ion-adsorption clays, still requires water usage and runoff containment. Companies that provide site-specific filtration, wastewater treatment, and stormwater management will play a growing role as environmental standards tighten. The ability to deploy scalable, efficient, and sustainable water systems will be a differentiator.
From mobile treatment units to long-term infrastructure, this sector will grow alongside the mining footprint.
Final Thoughts
The rare earth industry is evolving quickly, driven by the rising demands of the energy transition, AI, and advanced manufacturing. But the opportunity isn’t just in the mining itself—it’s in the highly specialized, often underappreciated service businesses that make mining possible.
At Legacy Holdings, we’re not here to speculate on where the next major deposit will be. Instead, we support the businesses essential to transportation infrastructure, ventilate the mines, clean the air, treat the water, and recycle the metals.
In short: we invest in the infrastructure behind the infrastructure. And in the race for rare earth independence, that’s where enduring value will be created.
