- China currently dominates the high-value market for rare earth elements (“REE”), but growing political tensions increasingly threaten this key supply chain, limiting the potential distribution of REE for crucial high-tech applications, such as military assets, electric vehicles, wind power generation, as well as mobile phones, and many others
- Ucore’s mission includes an ESG-centered model using RapidSX technology for the refining of REE from U.S. Allied sources, including Canada, as well as Louisiana and Alaska
- The REE market was valued at $5.3 billion in 2021 and is expected to continue growing quickly, at a CAGR of over 12%, resulting in a value of approximately $9.6 billion by 2026
Recent events have brought to light serious tensions that currently exist between the U.S. and China – including the Chinese spy balloons recently shot down in U.S. airspace and China’s anger toward the U.S. for an increased military presence planned for the Philippines. China has moved to claim dominance in the South China Sea, considering the waters as its own, in direct opposition to surrounding nations, such as the Philippines, and international law. These tensions threaten to disrupt current trade relations, including the distribution of vital rare earth elements (“REE”), on which China currently has a virtual monopoly.
Rare earth elements are a set of seventeen metallic elements necessary for the operation of many high-tech devices, including electric vehicles, cellular telephones, computer hard drives, flat-screen displays, and various defense-related products. The REE market was valued at $5.3 billion in 2021 but is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.3%, resulting in a value of $9.6 billion by 2026 (https://ibn.fm/MwByH). Rising tensions with China have created an urgency to establish North American sources for the mining and purification of these critical elements.
Ucore Rare Metals (TSX.V: UCU) (OTCQX: UURAF), a company pursuing the exploration, separation, and scalable production of REE in Canada and the U.S., is focused on becoming a leading advanced technology company that provides best-in-class metal separation products and services to the mining and mineral extraction industry. Through strategic partnerships, Ucore’s plan is to counteract China’s control of the North American REE supply chain through the near-term development of a heavy and light rare-earth processing facility in Louisiana, with subsequent additional Strategic Metals Complexes (“SMCs”), and the longer-term development of a heavy-rare-earth-element mineral-resource property at Bokan Mountain on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska.
In 2020, Ucore acquired Innovation Metals Corp. and its RapidSX separation technology platform, focused on the production of commercial-grade, separated rare earth elements at scale. The RapidSX technology combines the traditional chemistry of conventional solvent extraction (“SX”) with a new column-based platform that significantly reduces time to completion and plant footprint, as well as potentially lowering capital and operating costs. SX is the international REE industry’s standard commercial separation technology and is used by all REE producers for bulk commercial separation. The RapidSX technology significantly improves the well-established, well-understood, and proven conventional separation methods currently in use.
In addition, an integral part of Ucore’s growth plan centers around environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) criteria, which brings vast environmental advantages to metals processing compared to the current technology in China. North America has some of the world’s highest standards for mining labor and environmental practices – with a focus on metal extraction taking place in jurisdictions where people and the environment cannot be easily exploited.
Ucore is taking action now to develop a North American critical metals supply chain to protect the manufacturing economy and the environment. These efforts are demonstrated through the company’s North American initiatives, and represent a unique opportunity for investors to support this vital need.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Ucore.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to UURAF are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/UURAF
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