Rare Element Resources Ltd., a publicly traded, strategic materials company focused on delivering rare earth products for technology and defense applications by advancing the Bear Lodge Critical Rare Earth Project located in northeast Wyoming, has announced that its board of directors has approved additional steps aimed at reducing its on-going cash expenditures in light of prolonged weak market conditions and continued delays in the preparation of the Project’s draft environmental impact statement (DEIS). The cash-conservation programs include significant staff reductions, consolidation of facilities, sale of non-essential equipment and assets, as well as delisting its common shares from the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The Company has applied for voluntary delisting from the TSX and expects to delist its common shares from the TSX on or about December 31, 2015. The Company intends to continue the listing of its common shares on NYSE MKT under the ticker “REE”. The Company decided to take this action after considering on-going costs and expenses, both direct and indirect, associated with having its common shares listed on the TSX, and the limited share trading volume on the TSX relative to its share volume on the NYSE MKT, which is where the vast majority of its common shares are traded.
“We strongly believe in the strategic importance of the Bear Lodge Project and its obvious role as a cornerstone to re-establishing a domestic rare earth supply chain,” said Randall J. Scott, President and CEO. “Unfortunately, the rare earth market continues to suffer from many of the short-term issues impacting the greater global resource market. When one couples this with continued uncertainty around the timing and the final requirements of our DEIS, taking these cost-cutting steps is the right business decision for our shareholders. We are hoping to retain the talents of our impacted employees, with many of them having agreed to remain available for consulting work as needed.
“These measures are intended to position us to be able to move the Project forward expeditiously when conditions improve, while allowing us in the interim to pursue permitting and strategic alternatives like off-take agreements, joint ventures or potential mergers.”
