Ucore Rare Metals recently announced that the US Department of Defense has approved modifications to the Company’s existing Other Transaction Agreement and the corresponding payment of US$1.8 million for the completion of milestones under the Award.
The Award was made through the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Innovation Metals Corp., to conduct rare earth element (REE) separation work at the Company’s RapidSX Commercial Demonstration Facility in Kingston, Ontario.
The company was awarded the US$4 million OT Agreement to demonstrate the commercial efficacy of its RapidSX separation technology to the DoD, including:
- The capability to commercially deploy a sustainable domestic (United States and Canada) processing facility for converting heavy and light rare earth feedstock sources to salable individual rare earth products.
- A new, innovative refining/separation process that increases the ability to create domestic rare earth processing plants.
The modifications amended the existing agreement to more closely align payment milestones to the commercial objectives of the project, including:
• significant business progress towards the establishment of a Western Supply chain
• over 2,600 hours of demo plant operation in a simulated commercial environment processing tonnes of mixed rare earth elements
• 1,000s of hours of conventional SX pilot operation for direct comparative analysis
The payment will bring the total payments received to date under the OT Agreement to US$ 2.3 million.
The supply of rare earth products has been the subject of increasing attention and is highlighted in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which will implement a ban on the import of rare earth products from China and other covered countries for use in the National Defense Industry. The ban is scheduled to take effect from January 1, 2027.
“We are tremendously appreciative of the support that we have received from the US DoD,”said Pat Ryan, Chairman and CEO of Ucore. “The need for a domestic rare earth supply chain, as highlighted in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act has never been higher. We look forward to continuing our work with the DoD and other industry participants to ensure domestic supply of these critical materials.”
About Ucore Rare Metals Inc.
Ucore is focused on rare and critical-metal resources, extraction, beneficiation, and separation technologies with the potential for production, growth, and scalability. Ucore’s vision and plan is to become a leading advanced technology company, providing best-in-class metal separation products and services to the mining and mineral extraction industry.
Through strategic partnerships, this plan includes disrupting the People’s Republic of China’s control of the North American REE supply chain through the near-term establishment of a heavy and light rare-earth processing facility in the U.S. State of Louisiana, subsequent Strategic Metal Complexes in Canada and Alaska and the longer-term development of Ucore’s 100% controlled Bokan-Dotson Ridge Rare Heavy REE Project on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska, USA. For more on their Alaska operations, read in our previous article: Ucore Rare Metals Assembles Pieces of the Puzzle for Alaska Project Including IMC Processing Technology –
For more info, visit: www.ucore.com
