Ucore Rare Metals has entered into an agreement with IBC Advanced Technologies to acquire the exclusive rights to IBC’s SuperLig® Molecular Recognition Technology (MRT) for rare earth separation and recycling applications, in addition to tailings processing applications. Under the terms of the license agreement, Ucore has agreed to pay a one-time licensing fee to IBC in the amount of $2.9 million. The payment is subject to the delivery by IBC of a fully operational rare earth SuperLig pilot plant and due diligence review by Ucore. The pilot plant will be constructed at SepraMet, IBC’s wholly owned subsidiary in Houston, Texas.
Under the terms, upon the satisfactory completion of the foregoing terms and conditions at Ucore’s discretion, the parties agree to constitute a joint venture for the purpose of marketing and purveying SuperLig products and services exclusively to world markets in the rare earth, recycling and tailings processing sectors. The joint venture will involve using IBC’s proprietary technology regarding advanced metals separation and recovery technology on a royalty free basis and applying it to the REE, recycling and tailings processing markets worldwide. Ucore will have a controlling interest (60%) in the Joint Venture, while IBC will retain a 40% beneficial interest.
Greater than 99% of the REEs, as a group, are recovered in a clean separation from other metal components and individual selective separations of the REE’s are then made. Proprietary MRT SuperLig resins use many fewer stages than traditional SX processes.
SuperLig resins are produced using proprietary manufacturing procedures. Simplified separation process delivers pure individual elements requiring fewer separation stages.
“This is an important step for Ucore in obtaining the capabilities of an integrated provider of rare earth products from mine to metal,” said Jim McKenzie, President & CEO of Ucore. “MRT is a remarkable technology, already used extensively around the world in non-REE mining applications, where advanced SuperLig circuits are currently used to liberate high purity PGM’s and specialty metals. We’re delighted that IBC, the recognised world leader in the highly specialized field of MRT, has now partnered with Ucore to bring this extensively proven separation platform to the rare earth sector. Perhaps most importantly, our licensing arrangement includes the application of SuperLig technology to the world recycling and tailings processing sector – both for the recovery of rare earths and all other metals.”
“Rare earth operations have long sought a clean and cost effective alternative to traditional solvent extraction technology, and our belief is that the alternative is MRT,” said Ken Collison, COO of Ucore. “The SuperLig process is environmentally friendly, and integrates well with Ucore’s standards of exceptional environmental stewardship and economic efficiency.”
IBC is an award-winning, green chemical selective separations company based on innovative MRT products. It specialises in MRT, using green chemistry to achieve highly selective separations of metal ions in complex matrices. Based on Nobel Prize-winning technology (1987), IBC’s proprietary products and processes are used worldwide by premier metals refining and mining companies such as Tanaka Kikinzoku K.K. (Japan), Asarco Grupo Mexico (USA), Impala Platinum (South Africa), and Sino Platinum (China).
IBC’s expertise is illustrated by its extensive development and commercialization of separations systems for PGMs at a world level. PGMs are analogous to the rare earth elements, in that they are considered difficult to selectively separate due to their constituent chemical similarities.
The Ucore-IBC alliance builds on IBC’s proven capabilities to develop, scale-up and commercialise selective separations systems for a number of diverse and complex applications.
Ucore Rare Metals is a development-phase mining company focused on establishing rare metal resources and beneficiation technologies with near term potential for production, growth and scalability. With multiple projects across North America, Ucore’s primary focus is the 100% owned Bokan-Dotson Ridge REE property in Alaska. This REE project lies 60 km southwest of Ketchikan, and 140 km northwest of Prince Rupert, British Columbia and has direct ocean access to the western seaboard and the Pacific Rim, a significant advantage in developing near term production facilities and limiting the capital costs associated with mine construction.
This breakthrough represents advanced American technology being used to address a uniquely American challenge,” said Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT). “Securing the most critical specialty metals is essential to fuel our nation’s technology engines. Rare earths such as dysprosium, terbium, and neodymium are increasingly important to US military, transportation, medical, and super-computing applications as we compete across the globe. My congratulations to Ucore and IBC Advanced Technologies for delivering a prospective ‘missing link’ in the domestic technology metals supply stream.”