Willis talks of United Rare Earths progress in visit to WLAF

‘We are honored to be in Campbell County’- Jeffrey Willis, CEO of United Rare Earths

TOP PHOTO: Left to right, Jay Willoughby- Chairman of the Joint Economic Community Development Board, Jennifer Troxel with United Rare Earths, Jeffrey Willis, United Rare Earths CEO and Campbell County Mayor Jack Lynch.

WLAF’s Jim Freeman, left, visits with Jeffrey Willis, CEO of United Rare Earths

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- “We intend to be a part of the community,” said Jeffrey Willis last week during an interview at WLAF. Willis is the CEO of United Rare Earths. Willis’ visit focused on a couple of topics, the recent challenge to support food banks and a progress update on United Rare Earths.

FOOD BANK SUPPORT

The food bank donation challenge started with Willis a couple of Saturdays ago. “It was a point of concern for me. There are so many families in this community that could be impacted by not getting the benefits, and we felt that because we are being a service to this community that we needed to do something about that or, at least, as much as we could do,” said Willis.

Willis issued a challenge to the community after he put up some money of his own, $10,000. He asked community leaders and others to get involved to see how many families could be helped. “With the support of Mayor Jack Lynch and others, it looks like this has really multiplied itself into being able to help quite a few families, and we needed to make sure we support these families,” said Willis.

UNITED RARE EARTHS

“Substantial progress has been made and driven by the global politics situation as it relates to China. The dynamics of Rare Earths are critical to the modern economy, and certainly our nation and China dominated that,” said Willis.

Willis explains that it’s a long process to evolve a supply. “However, we started at that time with a partnership with Oak Ridge National Lab to develop a domestic traceable, reliable supply of particularly heavy Rare Earths, and currently we are underway in the first phases of construction,” said Willis.

“We are honored to be in Campbell County, first of all, and to have that kind of impact to create a national solution for Rare Earths, heavy Rare Earths, particularly is enormously impacting for the nation and certainly for this community,” said Willis.

Willis has a lot of support behind the scenes on his part. “Jennifer Troxel has been a critical part of not only keeping me organized but keeping the project organized and herding all the dynamic cats from Australia all the way to Washington and back here. So, we want to make sure I give her credit for that,” said Willis.

“We’re excited about getting underway as the new year opens which brings the next major phase of construction,” said Willis. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-11/17/2025-6AM)