공시 • 36m
Ucore Rare Metals Inc Produces 99.9% Dysprosium Oxide Sample Material For Japanese, South Korean, And US Customer Qualifications
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. has produced 99.9% dysprosium oxide generated at its Commercialization and Demonstration Facility in Kingston, Ontario, for planned Japanese, South Korean, and US customer qualifications. The shortage of heavy rare earth oxides, namely dysprosium and terbium, represents one of the most challenging requirements of forging a Western rare earth permanent magnet industry independent of geopolitical supply turbulence. The qualification work is intended to support the development of structured definitive supply and offtake agreements aligned with Ucore’s planned Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex, including downstream market development under the Company’s previously announced strategic cooperation framework with Sumitomo Corporation of Americas. Ucore Rare Metals Inc. has produced commercial-grade 99.9% dysprosium oxide for planned qualification samples to major rare earth permanent magnet and electronics manufacturers for technical evaluation. The dysprosium qualification sample material represents a significant milestone in Ucore’s strategy to connect its planned Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex’s rare earth separation outputs directly with downstream magnet, metal, alloy, and advanced materials supply chains. Dysprosium oxide is a critical heavy rare earth element material used in high-performance electronics and rare earth permanent magnets, particularly where magnets must retain performance, coercivity, and stability at elevated operating temperatures. These requirements are essential across electric vehicles, robotics, industrial automation, renewable energy systems, aerospace, and defense applications. Together with Ucore’s previously announced NdPr oxide qualification samples, this dysprosium oxide production advances Ucore’s broader product qualification strategy for the light and heavy rare earth oxides required by the Western oxide and permanent magnet industries. Ucore Rare Metals Inc. believes that the Western rare earth supply chain challenge is defined by the ability to reliably separate, refine, qualify, and deliver the individual rare earth oxides required by downstream manufacturers. This challenge is especially acute for heavy rare earths. NdPr provides the primary magnetic foundation for NdFeB permanent magnets, while dysprosium and terbium are used in smaller quantities but are essential for many high-temperature and high-performance magnet applications. Without qualified sources of dysprosium and terbium oxide outside of China, Western and Western-allied magnet producers remain exposed to supply concentration risk even when light rare earth supply and magnet manufacturing capacity are being expanded. Ucore Rare Metals Inc’s Commercialization and Demonstration Facility technology center in Kingston, Ontario, has focused on expanding the West’s knowledge of heavy rare earth processing, through developing front-end leaching and impurity removal processes from real-world sources, constructing two conventional solvent-extraction pilot-scale circuits of 52 and 80 stages each, directly comparing over 16,000 samples produced from RapidSX versus those produced from the conventional solvent-extraction circuits and proving that the chemistry of conventional solvent-extraction and RapidSX is identical while proving RapidSX is faster and more efficient, adapting the modular and scalable RapidSX technology platform to suit the required solvent-extraction chemistry while noting that, for given chemical conditions, the purity achieved is simply a function of the number of functional group stages, optimizing the solvent-extraction chemistry to recover both light and heavy rare earth elements, primarily from heavy rare earth feedstocks, demonstrating ESG standards for solids and liquids handling and reagent recoveries, developing the back-end oxalate and oxide production processes, and scaling the RapidSX hardware for full-scale operation and factory acceptance testing. The evaluation work by major downstream prospective customers focuses on confirming that Ucore Rare Metals Inc’s dysprosium oxide meets the technical, quality, consistency, traceability, and compliance requirements for use in their manufacturing supply chains. This qualification process is a key step toward elevating strategic relationships currently under discussion or toward forming the framework for structured commercial arrangements. It allows downstream manufacturers and advanced materials customers to evaluate whether Ucore Rare Metals Inc’s separated heavy rare earth oxide products meet their internal manufacturing and procurement specifications before finalizing larger-volume supply commitments. The dysprosium oxide qualification sample material was produced at Ucore Rare Metals Inc’s Commercialization and Demonstration Facility technology center. Work at the Commercialization and Demonstration Facility is integral to Ucore Rare Metals Inc’s commercial development plans and to understanding and exploiting solvent extraction chemistry. The noted dysprosium oxide sample material started with approximately 2 tonnes of mixed rare earth oxide derived from a third-party Western ionic clay source and was first processed through the Company’s 52-stage RapidSX Demonstration Plant through a multi-step separation campaign and then through a complementary solvent extraction circuit to provide additional polishing capacity through more available stages. Ucore Rare Metals Inc. announced that at the Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex the Company’s initial Machine A (the first component within Production Line 1) will alone consist of approximately 118 RapidSX stages. Ucore Rare Metals Inc. has previously announced strategic relationships with industry participants working to expand Western and allied rare earth supply chains. These relationships are intended to position Ucore Rare Metals Inc. as a midstream supplier of separated rare earth oxides to strategically important downstream manufacturers in Europe, Japan, North America, South Korea, and other allied markets. Ucore Rare Metals Inc. announced a strategic cooperation framework with Sumitomo Corporation of Americas to support the development of a diversified rare earth supply chain across North America and allied markets. Under that framework, the parties intend to collaborate on rare earth feedstock sourcing for Ucore Rare Metals Inc’s planned Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex and downstream offtake development for selected middle and heavy rare earth elements critical to high-performance magnets and advanced materials applications.