- Ucore Rare Metals (TSXV:UCU) and its subsidiary, Innovation Metals Corp. (IMC), are grabbing the Rare Earth Elements (REE) industry by the horns thanks to IMC’s proprietary critical metals separation technology, RapidSX™, and the development of an REE separation facility in Alaska, the Alaska SMC
- REE are needed for permanent magnets which are used in electric vehicles and consumer electronics
- The RapidSX™ technology has been tested at pilot-scale for the separation of both light and heavy REE feedstocks and is currently undergoing commercialization development and testing
- Ucore Rare Metals is looking to establish a US domestic REE supply chain independent of Chinese REE production
- Ucore’s ALASKA2023 business plan calls for the Alaska SMC construction project to be substantially complete by the end of 2023 and to begin producing rare earth oxides in Alaska by early 2024, which will then lead to developing the heavy REE mine at Bokan Mountain
Ucore Rare Metals Inc (TSXV:UCU) (Ucore) and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Innovation Metals Corp. (IMC), are grabbing the mining industry by the horns thanks to IMC’s proprietary critical metals separation technology, RapidSX, and Ucore’s development of a rare earth elements (REE) separation facility in Alaska, the Alaska Strategic Metals Complex (Alaska SMC).
The separation of rare earths is an essential part of the middle market for metals and alloys that become permanent magnets, which are used in electric motors.
Headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Ucore is focused on the establishment of a US REE supply chain, and through IMC, commercializing the RapidSX critical metals separation technology.
The company acquired IMC in May 2020 in a deal worth C$5.8 million which included providing IMC with a $500,000 non-interest-bearing intercompany loan to continue developing IMC’s RapidSX separation technology.
The technology was initially developed during the latter stages of a US$1.8 million US Department of Defense Army Research Laboratory project and subsequently refined by IMC. RapidSX is an accelerated solvent-extraction-based separation technology that has been tested at pilot scale for the separation of both light and heavy REE feedstocks. It is currently undergoing rigorous commercialization development and testing at IMC’s facility in Kingston, Ontario.
“If you’re going to take control of the middle market, you better do something better than what the Chinese are doing. The RapidSX technology has the ability to produce a facility that’s sixty percent less in cost and has an OPEX that’s better than or equal to China,” Pat Ryan, chairman of Ucore, told The Market Herald in an interview.
As it currently stands, rare earth oxide (REO) supply is largely controlled by China thanks to a total control index system. Last year, China’s total REE control indicators for mining and smelting & separation into REO were 140,000 tonnes and 135,000 tonnes, respectively.
That being said, China’s rare earth reserves have been on the decline over the last decade and Ucore is looking to continue changing this landscape through its REO production opportunities, starting with the Alaska SMC and then its nearby Bokan Mountain heavy REE project.
The company holds 100 percent ownership rights of the Bokan project, which is an advanced property mineral resource. In order to advance this project, Ucore is first developing the rare earth separations facility (the Alaska SMC) which would initially process mixed rare earth concentrates from US-allied suppliers into commercially pure REE oxides, such as for REE permanent-magnet applications.
Ucore’s management and technology team is backed with decades of experience in the automotive, engineering and manufacturing industries and understands the critical demands of production and the opportunities with the potential of downstream alloy and metal-making. As such, IMC’s RapidSX technology is at the centre of their plans now and going forward.
For more information visit, https://ucore.com/.
