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Ucore Rare Metals secures rights to novel REE separation technology

3rd March 2015

By: Henry Lazenby

Creamer Media Deputy Editor: North America

  

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TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Alaska-focused rare earths project developer Ucore Rare Metals on Tuesday showed off the first high-purity dysprosium concentrate ever produced in the US, with US-sourced feedstock.

The company also announced that it had secured the rights to a new minerals separation technology that had far-reaching potential for all future rare earths projects, in that it was able to separate the entire lanthanide suite, from lanthanum to lutetium, including yttrium and scandium.

Addressing attendees at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada’s yearly convention, COO Ken Collison announced that Ucore had entered into an agreement with IBC Advanced Technologies to acquire the exclusive rights to IBC's SuperLig molecular recognition technology (MRT), which could be applied to separate rare earth elements (REEs) in mining and recycling applications, as well as in tailings processing applications.

Under the terms of the licence agreement, Ucore had agreed to pay a one-time licensing fee of $2.9-million to IBC, subject to IBC delivering a fully operational rare earths SuperLig pilot plant and Ucore due diligence. The pilot plant would be constructed at IBC subsidiary SepraMet, in Houston, Texas.

The parties had agreed to constitute a joint venture (JV) that would market and sell SuperLig products and services exclusively to world markets in the rare earths, recycling and tailings processing sectors. The JV would involve using IBC's proprietary technology regarding advanced metals separation and recovery technology on a royalty-free basis. Ucore would have a 60% controlling interest in the JV, while IBC would retain the 40% balance.

"This is an important step for Ucore in obtaining the capabilities of an integrated provider of rare-earth products from mine to metal. MRT is a remarkable technology, already used extensively around the world in non-REE mining applications, where advanced SuperLig circuits are currently used to liberate high-purity [platinum-group metals] and specialty metals.

“Most importantly, our licensing arrangement includes the application of SuperLig technology to the world recycling and tailings processing sector – both for the recovery of rare earths and all other metals,” Ucore president and CEO Jim McKenzie said.

Collison added that rare-earth operations had long sought a clean and cost-effective alternative to traditional solvent extraction technology and believed that MRT was the alternative solution.

"The SuperLig process is environment-friendly and integrates well with Ucore's standards of exceptional environmental stewardship and economic efficiency,” he advised.

Ucore on Monday announced that it had successfully separated each of the REEs at high purity from a pregnant leach solution derived from feedstock from the company’s flagship Bokan Dotson-Ridge project, in Southeast Alaska.

Using the proprietary MRT circuit, Ucore had successfully separated each individual REE with purity levels for all REEs consistently meeting or exceeding 99% purity. Hazen Research of Denver, Colorado, prepared the pregnant leach solution using the metallurgical process outlined in Ucore’s January 2013 preliminary economic assessment (PEA).

The PEA had estimated the project’s pre-tax net present value at $577-million, using a 10% discount rate, and the internal rate of return at 43%. Once operational, the Bokan project was expected to average 2 250 t/y during the first five years, including high-value elements such as 95 t of dysprosium oxide, 14 t of terbium oxide and 515 t of yttrium oxide.

Ucore's TSX-V-listed stock jumped 13.33% on Tuesday, changing hands at C$0.34 apiece.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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