August 25 SMM Rare Earth Afternoon Trading Comment

[SMM Rare Earth News] Canadian rare earth refiner Ucore Rare Metals recently announced that its commercial demonstration facility in Kingston, Ontario, has successfully produced high-purity (99.5%) Pr-Nd samples from two different raw material sources. The company used about 2 mt of mixed rare earth oxides from a Vietnamese ion-adsorption clay ore source and about 5 mt of mixed rare earth carbonates from a North American bastnaesite ore source. This achievement validates the versatility of Ucore's patented RapidSX™ rare earth separation technology platform for multiple raw materials with vastly different rare earth element compositions. The technology is chemically identical to conventional solvent extraction but offers faster throughput and a smaller equipment footprint. The company plans to achieve scaled production of Pr-Nd as well as samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, and yttrium at the Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex (SMC).

The Greenland government has approved the transfer of the exploration license covering the Sarfartoq rare earth project to Greenland Mines, a company listed in the US, clearing a key obstacle for its acquisition of the asset from Canadian enterprise Neo Performance Materials.

US rare-earth-free magnet producer Niron Magnetics received a $150 million loan from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) to advance its magnet factory in Sartell, Minnesota.