Ucore’s Pat Ryan Leads a Gulf Coast Gambit to Rebuild America’s Rare Earth Supply Chain

July 8, 2025 – Pat Ryan is betting that a cross-functional approach, developed in Detroit’s auto plants and now being implemented on the Gulf Coast, can escape Beijing’s increasing control over rare earth expertise. “Capital is useless if you don’t have the right professionals”, stated the CEO of Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSXV: UCU | OTCQX: UURAF) to Tracy Hughes of InvestorNews and listed a number of new additions: an experienced operations manager, a PhD process chemist, “who joined the team two weeks ago”, and a project manager, “who actually built an SX plant, both heavy and light”. These new additions strengthen a company that – as Ryan puts it – wants to write “a typically American story”.

Ucore’s ambitions are based on RapidSX™, a proprietary separation technology that has already run for “over 5,000 hours” in a demo production line in Kingston, Ontario, and has just received a vote of confidence from the Pentagon. In May, the U.S. Department of Defense expanded its “Other Transaction Agreement” and increased the previous allocation of US$4 million by US$18.4 million. Ryan spoke of “an additional C$38 million” earmarked for an 80,800 square meter “Strategic Metals Complex” in Alexandria, Louisiana, which is expected to begin delivering separated oxides in the first half of 2026.

With this federal government support, Ucore was able to quickly replenish its war chest. A June financing added another C$15.5 million, bringing available funds to “over $50 million”. According to Ryan, the timing avoided the “summer doldrums” and the “up and down” market concerns about China and positioned the company to seek only “strategic equity” going forward.

The location is a hedge in itself. Alexandria is located in a foreign trade zone, which exempts the facility from tariffs on concentrates transported via the Mississippi River, whether from “Brazil, Australia” or other countries. “Critical rare earth metals are needed”, Ryan added, stating that the expansion in Louisiana will be modular and scalable, protected from Gulf hurricanes, yet still have good transportation routes.

Kingston remains the company’s laboratory – now twice its original size – where engineers are researching “unusual” raw materials such as samarium-rich concentrates, whose export is banned by China.

Meanwhile, the visitor log indicates a positive development in the downstream industry: “29 visitors” in 2024, including potential off-take partners seeking REEs for magnets and “other uses” outside of the motor sector.

Shareholders can expect a timeline for engineering in Louisiana, details on supply agreements in South America and Australia, as well as “three- and four-part partnerships” connecting raw materials, processing, alloying, and end-users. Ryan is clear on this: “You don’t just want one-off business relationships, because they don’t contribute much to building a complete supply chain.”