IonicRE Signs MoU to Develop Makuutu Rare Earths Project in Uganda

Ionic Rare Earths Limited (IonicRE) collaborated with Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco) to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for advancing the development of the Makuutu Rare Earths Project in Uganda. The MoU includes the potential for off-take agreements for rare earth products.

In this regard, Ionic Rare Earths Limited and China Rare Metals and Rare Earth (Jiangsu), a subsidiary of Chinalco, have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding. Under the MoU, the two parties will work together to accelerate the development and production of the Makuutu project.

Ionic Rare Earths Limited is a company focused on developing its flagship Makuutu Rare Earths Project into a significantly long life, low-cost, supplier of high-value critical and heavy rare earths.

Located 120km east of Kampala, the Makuutu REEs Project in Uganda is an ionic adsorption clay hosted REE deposit. The current resource at the project is confirmed over a 20km length. With a running life of more than 30 years, the project has the potential of generating a high margin product. It is also promising for a low-cost Scandium co-product.

The memorandum of understanding includes potential offtake agreements and project funding. Under the terms, Chinalco has been granted exclusivity on strategic cooperation to accelerate the Makuutu REEs project to production for the term of 1 year.

Tim Harrison, Managing Director of the company, said: "From the beginning of our discussion, it is clear that there is a key alignment between the two parties regarding the development of Makuutu.

"We welcome their expertise in de-risking technology development and engineering, maximizing Makuutu's strategic value and its importance in the long-term global rare earth supply chain.

"We see Makuutu rapidly growing into an ultra-large long-life producer of key rare earths and heavy rare earths. The cooperation with Chinalco potentially fast tracks the development process for Makuutu and will greatly aid in value creation for IonicRE."

In the past 12 months, Chinalco has completed its due diligence on Makuutu Rare Earths Project in Uganda.

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