The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Metal Tech News - August 21, 2024
Ucore's RapidSX platform is being tested in Ontario in preparation for installing the innovative rare earths separation technology at the company's Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex.
The rare earths at Meteoric's Caldeira project are hosted in ionic clay, a type of deposit formed when time and weather break rock down to a clay-like material.
Neodymium and praseodymium are the primary rare earths used in the permanent magnets for EVs and other high-tech applications.
Dysprosium and terbium are rarer and more expensive rare earths used to increase the durability of magnets for EVs and other industrial applications.
As part of its plan to forge a sturdy rare earth supply chain outside of China, Ucore Rare Metals Inc. has cut a deal for the supply of 3,000 metric tons of total rare earth oxides (TREO) from a future mine at Meteoric Resources' Caldeira project in Brazil.
"Ucore is delighted to have the opportunity to work with Meteoric and its world-class Caldeira project as we continue to engage with like-minded partners in establishing a Western supply chain made up of diverse global projects," said Ucore Rare Metals Chairman and CEO Pat Ryan.
The rare earths at Meteoric's Caldeira project are hosted in ionic clay, a type of deposit formed when time and weather break rock down to a clay-like material.
The rare earth oxides from Caldeira would provide a feedstock for Ucore's Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex (SMC), a facility that will separate the notoriously interlocked rare earths into individual elements needed for electric vehicles, high-tech devices and countless other consumer and industrial products.
Rare earth element separation, which is currently dominated by China, is the missing link in establishing REE supply chains in the West.
To help forge this critical link in the United States, Ucore developed RapidSX, a more efficient and environmentally sound upgrade to the mixer-settler solvent extraction (SX) methods that have been the standard for separating rare earths in China for more than four decades.
Independent testing has shown that the column-based RapidSX platform can separate rare earths nearly 10 times faster within a footprint that is about one-third the size required for the large vat-based SX methods found at traditional REE facilities.
Ucore is installing the RapidSX platform at its Louisiana SMC, which will process mixed rare earth oxide material provided by mining companies like Meteoric.
"We are delighted to support Ucore in their march towards becoming an alternative separating option for a Western Rare Earth supply chain," said Meteoric Resources CEO Nick Holthouse.
In July, Meteoric published the results of a scoping study that outlines plans for a mine at Caldeira capable of producing 181,000 metric tons of rare earth oxides over an initial 20 years of operations.
This project in eastern Brazil offers several advantages that mark it as one of the lowest-cost sources of rare earths in the West. These advantages are derived from being an ionic clay deposit that comes to the surface, which lowers the costs and complexity of mining the ore and producing a mixed rare earth oxide concentrate.
Neodymium and praseodymium are the primary rare earths used in the permanent magnets for EVs and other high-tech applications.
More importantly, when it comes to market demand, more than 20% of the rare earths contained in the Caldeira are those needed for magnets – neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium.
Ucore estimates that its Louisiana SMC could produce more than 900 metric tons of neodymium-praseodymium, a mixed rare earth product used in permanent magnets; 24 metric tons of dysprosium; and six metric tons of terbium annually from the 3,000 metric tons of Caldeira TREO it would purchase each year under the offtake agreement it has with Meteoric.
Holthouse says the rare earths offtake memorandum of understanding with Ucore adds credence to Caldeira and the project's potential to deliver rare earths to the North American market.
Dysprosium and terbium are rarer and more expensive rare earths used to increase the durability of magnets for EVs and other industrial applications.
"We look forward to working with Ucore and having the benefit of their technical support and U.S. government relationships as we continue to pursue and develop our own downstream capabilities and progress to a binding commercial arrangement," he said.
Meteoric anticipates it will receive the permits needed to begin construction at Caldeira by the end of next year and plans to be producing mixed rare earth carbonate in the latter half of 2027.
In the meantime, Ucore plans to begin commissioning the RapidSX circuits at its Louisiana SMC by the end of next year and reach commercial production at the rare earths separation plant early in 2026.
This facility is well-positioned to receive rare earth feedstock from mines near South America's Atlantic coast.
"The proximity of South America, particularly Brazil, to the Port of New Orleans and onto our Alexandria, Louisiana facility is ideally situated as we establish rare earth manufacturing in the Southeast United States," said Ryan.
With more than 16 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration and technology metals.
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