Establishment of North American Rare Earths Supply Chain

The recent agreement between Vital Metals Ltd. and Ucore Metals Ltd. marks a milestone in the establishment of a complete North American rare earths supply chain linking the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan and Alaska.

Vital has established Canada's only rare earth mine at its Nechalacho project in the Northwest Territories and is building a processing facility in Saskatchewan to upgrade high-grade ore into a midstream carbonate product of mixed rare earth.

Ucore is moving forward with plans to develop a rare earth separation facility in Alaska that will provide a link in the supply chain to provide manufacturers with a fully North American supply of individual rare earth oxides needed for a range of modern technologies, including electric vehicles, renewable energy, computers, smartphones and military equipment.

Mike Schrider, Chief Operating Officer of Ucore Rare Earth Metals, said, "Our efforts combine with the obvious collective goal of establishing a rare earth supply chain outside of China to ensure that manufacturers in the Western world have access to rare earth oxides produced and sourced in North America."

China, which has dominated the global rare earth market for over 40 years, accounts for approximately 60% of all rare earths mined. While MP Materials' Mountain Pass mine in California's Mojave Desert does produce significant amounts of rare earth, it does not have the capacity to separate the concentrate produced there into usable individual rare earths.

Instead, MP Materials currently ships its concentrates to China for separation. North American manufacturers then purchase rare earth metals and upgraded products leached with these elements from Chinese and other overseas suppliers.

As a result, the United States is currently dependent on foreign countries for 100% of its supply of isolated rare earth oxides. And more than 80% of these key metals are imported from China, either directly or through secondary countries.

Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the American Mining Association, said earlier this year, "The U.S. has sat on its hands too long while China strategically builds production and processing capacity, leading to almost complete domination of the rare earth supply chain." Ucore's vision and plans suggest that this need not be the case.

Ucore's vision of creating a key link in the emerging rare earth supply chain in North America is becoming more visible with the initial off-take agreement for Canadian produced Vital rare earth carbonates and a second agreement with Southeast Conference to help secure funding for a planned separation facility in Alaska.