HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA — June 2, 2021 — Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (“Ucore” or the “Company”) (TSXV:UCU) (OTCQX:UURAF)i is pleased to announce that it has entered into agreements with third parties to provide marketing, investor relations, and consulting services to the Company for the purposes of raising awareness about the Company and the significance of the Company’s planned Strategic Metals Complex (“SMC”) as the first step of the Alaska2023 Business Plan to establish a complete, secure, domestic rare-earth element (“REE”) supply chain in the United States. Ucore’s Alaska2023 strategy is predicated on the fundamental objectives of economic and commercial-scale production of REE oxides (“REOs”) required for the REE permanent-magnet (“REPM”) industry. This goal includes further important planned developments by the Company’s subsidiary, Innovation Metals Corp. (“IMC”), as it progresses towards the commercialization of its proprietary critical-metals separation technology, RapidSX™. RapidSX is intended to be commercially deployed in the SMC, as part of the Alaska2023 Business Plan, to separate and purify Ucore’s planned REE feedstocks into finished REOs of commercial purity, required by green-energy applications. Additionally, IMC plans to license the RapidSX technology for REE separation to strategic licensing partners for the processing of US and/or US-allied-sourced REE feedstocks. The strategic timing of these planned engagements and the related online awareness campaign are important as the Company expects to complete very deliberate phases of its business plans and various short-term objectives during the period from Q2 2021 to Q2 2022.
Ucore has engaged Stockhouse Publishing Ltd. (“Stockhouse”) for a 12-month period at a cost of $7,500 per month. Stockhouse will provide the Company with a variety of digital marketing, investor-relations and capital-markets awareness services, as well as consulting services. Additionally, the Company has engaged Mountain Capital Corp. (“Mountain Capital”) for the provision of digital marketing, investor relations and capital-markets awareness services for a six-month period at a cost of $13,333 per month.
“While we continue to advance our Alaska2023 Business Plan, we are exceptionally pleased by the opportunities that the RapidSX technology have afforded to the Company to achieve near-term commercial REE processing – precisely what the REE industry and its dependent downstream customers and stakeholders outside of China need right now,” noted Ucore Chairman and CEO, Pat Ryan. “We look forward to sharing our vision for the Company with both current and new investors as we execute our plan for North American rare-earth independence followed by expected innovative RapidSX technology developments regarding lithium, nickel, cobalt, and other green-technology critical materials.”
Stockhouse is a well-known financial media company that serves financial institutions, media publishers, public companies, brand advertisers, investors and persons who have an interest in capital-market matters. Other than the monthly fee disclosed above, Stockhouse does not have any financial interest, directly or indirectly, in Ucore or its securities, or any right or intent to acquire such an interest.
Mountain Capital is a capital-markets media-relations firm that provides services intended to increase the awareness and profile of its clients. Other than the monthly fee disclosed above, Mountain Capital does not have any financial interest, directly or indirectly, in Ucore or its securities, or any right or intent to acquire such an interest.
Ucore’s online awareness campaign is intended to help investors and prospective investors discover and learn more information about Ucore and the Company’s Alaska2023 Business Plan. The awareness campaign will only provide investors and prospective investors with previously disclosed factual information concerning Ucore, which shall be presented in a summarized and fair and balanced manner. The awareness campaign is not intended to prepare the market for any distribution of securities or create any unusual demand for any of Ucore’s securities. All investors and prospective investors are encouraged to obtain professional investment advice from a registered professional investment advisor and to fully review all of Ucore’s publicly available disclosure filings, which are available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).
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i Ucore has received questions from shareholders regarding recent brokerage industry notices warning investors who hold shares in companies that do not share publicly available information about the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) adopting amendments to Rule 15c2-11 (the “Rule”) and its impact on the quoted market for over-the-counter (“OTC”) securities categorized as Pink No Information.
The OTC Markets Group has informed Ucore that as an OTCQX company, Ucore already shows good corporate governance by actively demonstrating its compliance with securities laws and meeting OTCQX disclosure standards, including making current information publicly available. The OTCQX market standards exceed the requirements for continued quoting under Rule 15c2-11 and the proposed amendments will not affect shareholders of UURAF.
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About Ucore Rare Metals Inc.
Ucore is focused on rare- and critical-metals resources, extraction, beneficiation, and separation technologies with potential for production, growth, and scalability. Ucore has a 100% ownership stake in the Bokan-Dotson Ridge Rare-Earth Element Project in Southeast Alaska, USA. Ucore’s vision and plan is to become a leading advanced technology company, providing best-in-class metal separation products and services to the mining and mineral extraction industry.
Through strategic partnerships, this vision includes disrupting the People’s Republic of China’s (“PRC”) dominance of the US REE supply chain through the development of a heavy rare-earth processing facility — the Alaska Strategic Metals Complex in Southeast Alaska and the long-term development of Ucore’s heavy rare-earth element mineral resource property located at Bokan Mountain on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska.
Ucore is listed on the TSXV under the trading symbol “UCU” and in the United States on the OTC Markets’ OTCQX® Best Market under the ticker symbol “UURAF”.
For further information, please visit www.ucore.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed “forward-looking statements” regarding, among other things, the Company’s Alaska2023 Business Plan as well as the upcoming online awareness campaign. All statements in this release (other than statements of historical facts) that address future business development, technological development and/or acquisition activities (including any related required financings), timelines, litigation outcomes, events, or developments that the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. In regard to the disclosure in the “About Ucore Rare Metals Inc.” section above, the Company has assumed that it will be able to procure or retain additional partners and/or suppliers, in addition to IMC, as suppliers for Ucore’s expected future Alaska Strategic Metals Complex (“Alaska SMC”). Ucore has also assumed that sufficient external funding will be found to prepare a new National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”) technical report that demonstrates that the Bokan Mountain Rare Earth Elements project (“Bokan”) is feasible and economically viable for the production of both REE and co-product metals and the then prevailing market prices based upon assumed customer off-take agreements. Ucore has also assumed that sufficient external funding will be secured to develop the specific engineering plans for the Alaska SMC and its construction. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, without limitation: IMC failing to protect its intellectual property rights in RapidSX™; RapidSX failing to demonstrate commercial viability in large commercial-scale applications; Ucore not being able to procure additional key partners or suppliers for the Alaska SMC; Ucore not being able to raise sufficient funds to fund the specific design and construction of the Alaska SMC and/or the continued development of RapidSX; adverse capital-market conditions; unexpected due-diligence findings; unexpected or adverse outcomes in the currently outstanding litigation matters between Ucore and IBC Advanced Technologies, Inc.; the emergence of alternative superior metallurgy and metal-separation technologies; the inability of Ucore and/or IMC to retain its key staff members; a change in the legislation in Alaska and/or in the support expressed by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (“AIDEA”) regarding the development of Bokan and/or the Alaska SMC; the availability and procurement of any required interim and/or long-term financing that may be required; and general economic, market or business conditions.
Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined by the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
CONTACT
Mark MacDonald
Vice President, Investor Relations
Ucore Rare Metals Inc.
+1 902 482 5214
mark@ucore.com
