Ucore Rare Metals receives over 4 million dollars from the Canadian government!

Not long ago, rare earth technology company Ucore Rare Metals (WKN A2QJQ4 / TSXV UCU) announced that the US Department of Defense was providing the company with USD 4 million. The aim at the time was to use these funds to prove the suitability of the company’s demonstration plant in Kingston, Ontario, for the separation of so-called heavy rare earths. Now Ucore is apparently receiving a similar amount of funding from Canada, this time for tests to separate light rare earths!

Specifically, according to today’s announcement, the company will receive $4.28 million in non-repayable contributions from the Government of Canada to demonstrate that Ucore’s RapidSX™ technology is also suitable for processing light rare earth elements.

In particular, the commercial effectiveness of the company’s technology platform in the production of light rare earths will be demonstrated. To this end, Ucore will almost continuously produce high-purity samples of praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd) and a praseodymium-neodymium mixture (NdPr).

Ucore assumes that 13 to 15 tons of mixed rare earth carbonates and oxides will be processed as part of these tests. These should come from various Canadian and US sources. The project has a total budget of 8.31 million dollars, of which the Canadian government is providing 4.28 million dollars.

Non-dilutive financing

These state funds are also a very positive step for Ucore’s shareholders, as they will not lead to any further dilution. They will also help the company to qualify these important materials – praseodymium and neodymium are used for permanent magnets, for example – for potential customers in the automotive sector, the wind energy sector and the manufacture of consumer electronic goods. As already mentioned, the funding from the US Department of Defense was for the production of the heavy rare earth elements terbium (Tb) and dysprosium (Dy), which are also used for magnets.

Alternative, North American supply chain more important than ever

“We would like to thank the Canadian government for this important funding,” said Pat Ryan, P.Eng, Chairman and CEO of Ucore. “Recent announcements by China to tighten controls on the export of rare earths have raised concerns about the continued availability of these important materials. Developing an alternative North American supply chain for rare earths is more important than ever as the world moves toward electrifying its vehicle fleet and other green initiatives.”

The project

The light rare earth project is scheduled to be completed by the end of March 2025, with the company having to report on a quarterly basis. Ucore must submit its claims for reimbursement within 60 days of the end of each quarter. Claims for funds totaling 4,275,848 dollars out of the total project budget of 8,308,441 dollars are planned. The claim period runs from September 22, 2023 to March 31, 2025.