Canadian rare earth company Ucore Rare Metals signed an agreement with Australia's Metallium to supply rare earth raw materials for Ucore's planned refinery in Alexandria, Louisiana. Ucore announced that the two companies will collaborate on a modular refining solution in the US, designed to process traditional rare earth concentrates and alternative raw materials, such as magnet scrap, to produce separated rare earth oxides. Metallium focuses on mineral exploration and metal recycling technology development, with resources of niobium, rare earth elements, and gold in Western Australia and Quebec, Canada. It holds the exclusive license for the flash Joule heating technology developed by researchers at Rice University, which Ucore plans to integrate into its refining process. In August this year, Ucore signed a non-binding supply agreement with US mining developer Critical Metals for the long-term purchase of 10,000 mt of rare earth concentrate annually. In May, the company secured a financing agreement worth $18.4 million from the US Department of Defense to support the construction of the Louisiana refinery.