VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – TSX-V-listed juniors Commerce Resources and Ucore Rare Metals has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) outlining the integration of feedstock from Commerce’s Ashram project, in Quebec, with Ucore’s rare earths separation facility and strategic metals complex (SMC).

Under the terms of the MoU, Commerce will provide mixed rare earth carbonate concentrate mined from the Ashram deposit to perform bench and pilot-scale testing of the metallurgy and metals separation metrics of the prospective feedstock.

The bench work will establish a definitive assessment of the suitability of the Ashram concentrate as potential feedstock for the SMC, with a view to a subsequent long-term supply partnership and offtake relationship.

Testwork will be conducted by IBC Advanced Technologies of American Fork, Utah, with pilot-scale testwork expected to take place at the recently completed SuperLig-One Molecular Recognition Technology (MRT) pilot facility in Vineyard, Utah.

“This is a significant development partnership for both Ucore and Commerce. Commerce has undertaken extensive research and testing resulting in a high-quality and high-grade mineral concentrate that will allow for cost-effective processing to our ideal feedstock and, therefore, looks to be a very promising candidate for processing via a MRT separation circuit,” commented Ucore president and CEO Jim McKenzie in a news release on Monday.

The Ashram deposit has significant tonnage, good grade, hosts a well-balanced rare earth element (REE) distribution with an enrichment in the magnet feed REEs, and perhaps most importantly, is highly accessible, McKenzie said.

“In combination with the SMC, Ashram promises to be a key link in a self-contained North American REE supply chain.”

Commerce is well advanced with its metallurgical testing and flowsheet design to produce the Ashram concentrate, incorporating a conventional approach used by current and past rare earth producers. This involves an initial phase of beneficiation to produce a high-grade mineral concentrate of more than 45% rare earth oxides and at high recovery at about 75%, followed by a hydrometallurgical phase that further processes the mineral concentrate through to a mixed rare earth carbonate product suitable for separation. The Ashram metallurgical testwork and pilot plant is located and operated at Hazen Research in Golden, Colorado.

Ucore is now engaged in the detailed engineering and planning of the SMC rare earth separation facility, a joint venture with IBC. The SMC will use SuperLig MRT to separate the REEs, capitalising on advanced pilot-phase testing of the SuperLig-One pilot platform.

The SMC is being designed and engineered as a modular facility, capable of accepting feedstock from varying supply sources and a range of high-quality concentrates. Ucore expects to release a comprehensive design and build schedule for the SMC facility, including an economic analysis of supply sources, in the coming months.

With prospective supply sources located in Quebec, Alaska and the south-eastern US, the selection of the location of the SMC is contingent upon incentives and logistical considerations from multiple competing jurisdictions.