Ucore gets additional $18.4M Pentagon funding for Louisiana rare earth plant

The US Department of Defense (DOD) is providing an additional $18.4 million in funding to help bring Ucore Rare Metals’ (TSXV: UCU) rare earth elements (REE) separation technology towards full-scale operation.In a press release Wednesday, Ucore said the funding agreement with the US Army Contracting Command-Orlando will support the initial construction of commercial-scale production modules centred around its RapidSX technology.The company currently has an 80,800-square-foot brownfield facility within the England Airpark in Alexandria, Louisiana, as the site for its first strategic metals complex dedicated to REE separation and oxide production.This facility will be commissioned in stages, with production scaling up from 2,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) initially to 5,000 tpa, and a potential further increase to 7,500 tpa.Pre-commercialization workSpecifically, the DOD funding will be used to support Ucore’s pre-planned expansion of its existing REE separation technology demonstration project at its facility in Kingston, Ontario. It adds to the previous $4 million DOD funding for the pilot project in 2023.The additional scope of work, the company says, will further scale up and commercialize Ucore’s RapidSX technology for its developing Louisiana refinery. This will be achieved through the installation of a complete RapidSX separation machine capable of demonstrating commercial-scale production of six of the seven REEs recently placed under China’s export licensing restrictions.Ucore will follow up with a systems engineering approach to facilitate a knowledge transfer of the RapidSX separation technology from the demonstration facility in Ontario to the Louisiana complex.The work will conclude with the installation of a production separation capacity capable of processing hundreds of tonnes of heavy and/or light total rare earth oxides (TREOs), using the same RapidSX technology equipment platform.It is anticipated that upon successful completion of the project, Ucore will continue to construct RapidSX machines to complete its planned 2,000-tonne-per-annum TREO Phase 1 production.Production in 2026Full-scale construction and early production from the Louisiana facility, according to Ucore, is anticipated in the second half of 2026.“Ucore’s business model is founded on 1) collaboration with an array of like-minded upstream and downstream commercial and governmental partners and 2) the implementation of the next logical leap in commercial critical metals separation technology resulting from Western innovation,” stated Pat Ryan, Ucore chairman and CEO.“Ucore is very appreciative to the US DOD for the opportunity, and potential future opportunities, which have now resulted in this dedicated expansion project to full-scale processing production.”The company currently has rare earth supply agreements with ABx Group, Meteoric Resources and Cyclic Materials for its proposed refinery in Louisiana.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com