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Ucore $UURAF Successful Completion of Initial Extraction-Rate Testing of the RapidSX Technology for #RareEarths Elements Separation https://www.globenewswire.com/fr/news-release/2021/07/06/2258361/0/en/Innovation-Metals-Corp-Successfully-Completes-Initial-Extraction-Rate-Testing-of-the-RapidSX-Technology-for-Rare-Earth-Elements-Separation.html
>>> China may align itself with Taliban and try to exploit Afghanistan’s rare earth metals, analyst warns
CNBC
AUG 17 2021
by Weizhen Tan
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/17/taliban-in-afghanistan-china-may-exploit-rare-earth-metals-analyst-says.html
KEY POINTS
Rare earth metals in Afghanistan were estimated to be worth anywhere between $1 trillion and $3 trillion in 2020.
Only hours after the Taliban overran Afghanistan, a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said Beijing was ready for “friendly cooperation with Afghanistan.”
China has dominated the rare earths market globally and threatened to cut off supplies to the U.S. during the trade war in 2019.
China’s alliance with Taliban has to be on international terms
Afghanistan is estimated to have trillions of dollars worth of rare earth metals, and countries — such as China — that may be looking to swoop in on the country must follow international terms, one analyst told CNBC.
Shamaila Khan, director of emerging market debt at AllianceBernstein, said the Taliban insurgents have emerged with resources that are a “very dangerous proposition for the world,” with minerals in Afghanistan that “can be exploited.”
Afghanistan fell into the hands of the Islamist militant group over the weekend, as it seized the capital of Kabul as well as the Presidential Palace. After President Joe Biden’s April decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban made stunning battlefield advances — and nearly the whole nation is now under the insurgents’ control.
The international community should put pressure on China, for instance, if it seeks to ally itself with the Taliban, Khan added.
Afghanistan’s rare earth minerals
Minerals and rare earth metals in Afghanistan were estimated to be worth between $1 trillion and $3 trillion in 2020, according to a report in news magazine The Diplomat, citing Ahmad Shah Katawazai, a former diplomat at the Afghan Embassy in Washington D.C. A report by American news organization The Hill earlier this year put the value at about $3 trillion.
So there should be pressure on China if they are going to do alliances with the Taliban in order to generate economic aid for them — that they do it on international terms.
“It should be an international initiative to make sure that if any country is agreeing to exploit its minerals on behalf of the Taliban, to only do it under strict humanitarian conditions where human rights, and rights for women are preserved in the situation,” Khan told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Tuesday.
The Taliban’s harsh interpretation of Islam has meant that women’s rights were curtailed, before the U.S. toppled its regime in 2001.
Afghanistan has rare earth elements such as lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, and veins of aluminium, gold, silver, zinc, mercury, and lithium, according to Katawazai. Rare earths are used in everything from electronics to electric vehicles, and satellites and aircraft.
“So there should be pressure on China if they are going to do alliances with the Taliban in order to generate economic aid for them — that they do it on international terms,” said Khan. She was responding to a question on the commercial motivation behind China’s nod to the Taliban a day after the militants took over the country — given the trillions of dollars worth of rare earths there.
China poised for bigger role in Afghanistan?
Only hours after the Taliban overran Afghanistan, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said Beijing was ready for “friendly cooperation with Afghanistan.”
“On the basis of fully respecting the sovereignty of Afghanistan and the will of all factions in the country, China has maintained contact and communication with the Afghan Taliban and played a constructive role in promoting the political settlement of the Afghan issue,” said spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a press conference on Monday.
Chaos in Kabul, Afghanistan, ensues as the Taliban takes control
According to Hua, the Taliban said “on multiple occasions” that it “looks forward to China’s participation in Afghanistan’s reconstruction and development.”
“We are ready to continue to develop good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation with Afghanistan and play a constructive role in Afghanistan’s peace and reconstruction,” Hua said.
In late July, before the Taliban’s latest blitz across Afghanistan, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with a delegation led by the head of the Afghan Taliban political committee Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Tianjin.
Chinese state media in recent days seemed to echo similar sentiments to the foreign ministry. The Global Times published an article on Aug. 15, citing Chinese experts, saying speculation that China might send troops to fill the vacuum left by the U.S. was “totally groundless.”
However, the state-run tabloid pointed out that the country can “contribute to post-war reconstruction and development, pushing forward projects under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.” The BRI is a mammoth infrastructure investment plan to build rail, road, sea and other routes stretching from China to Central Asia, Africa and Europe.
China’s dominance in world’s rare earths
China dominates the rare earths market globally. About 35% of rare earth global reserves are in China, the most in the world, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The country is also a mining machine, producing 120,000 metric tons or 70% of total rare earths in 2018, compared to the U.S. which mined 15,000 metric tones of rare earths the same year, it said.
How one rare earth mine could change the U.S.’s dependence on China
U.S. reserves also pale in comparison to China. The U.S. has a total of 1.4 million metric tons of reserves, versus 44 million metric tons of reserves in China.
China used rare earths as a threat during its trade war with the U.S. in 2019, when Beijing threatened to cut off supplies to the U.S. Rare earth minerals are commonly used in high-tech devices, automobiles, clean energy and defense.
The U.S. was heavily dependent on China for rare earths in 2019, when the Asian country was exporting 80% of U.S. needs, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
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>>> NioCorp Developments Responds to Market Activity
Yahoo Finance
June 29, 2021
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/niocorp-developments-responds-market-activity-163700824.html
CENTENNIAL, Colo., June 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- At the request of IIROC ("Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada"), NioCorp Developments Ltd. ("NioCorp" or the "Company") (TSX:NB) (OTCQX:NIOBF) wishes to confirm that it is not aware of any material, undisclosed information related to the Company that would account for the recent increase in the market price and level of trading volume of its common shares.
Metallurgical Update
In separate news, NioCorp is pleased to report that its metallurgical testing program continues to show excellent progress in several current areas of focus.
Ongoing testing of Elk Creek Project ("Project") ore using High-Pressure Grinding Rolls ("HPGR") technology continues to show promising results. HPGR technology is an energy efficient and low-emission alternative for reducing the size of the ore to enable the recovery of niobium, scandium, titanium, and potential rare earth products. The use of HPGR in the Project reinforces the Company's commitment to the environment and design for a sustainable operation. The testing, conducted at the Natural Resources Research Institute ("NRRI") of the University of Minnesota-Duluth, in partnership with Weir Minerals, is expected to culminate in the preparation of a 3-metric tonne metallurgical sample to be used for flowsheet optimization and rare earth recovery studies.
NioCorp's metallurgical consulting partner, L3 Process Developments, has completed initial testwork and studies related to flowsheet optimization and rare earth recovery for the Project's planned surface processing facility. The Company continues to evaluate the results of this work as part of the overall effort to determine the economics around adding rare earth recovery to the project's flowsheet.
Work is expected to commence shortly on the collection of additional historic drill core samples and the submittal of those samples for rare earth analysis to fill in gaps in coverage for the rare earths in the Company's drill hole database.
The Company has completed an internal study of the markets for rare earth products, focusing on the potential growth of those markets driven by the anticipated demand for the magnetic rare earths (Neodymium, Praseodymium, Terbium, Dysprosium) and the resulting long-term expectations related to pricing.
Qualified Persons: Scott Honan, M.Sc., SME-RM, COO of NioCorp Developments Ltd., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in the news release.
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>>> NioCorp Initiates High Pressure Grinding Roll Testing of its Elk Creek Ore
Yahoo Finance
June 9, 2021
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/niocorp-initiates-high-pressure-grinding-152300019.html
CENTENNIAL, Colo., June 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NioCorp Developments Ltd. ("NioCorp" or the "Company") (TSX:NB) (OTCQX:NIOBF) is pleased to announce the initiation of testing of Elk Creek Project ("Project") ore using High-Pressure Grinding Rolls ("HPGR") technology. HPGR technology is an energy efficient and low-emission alternative for reducing the size of the ore to enable the recovery of niobium, scandium, titanium, and potential rare earth products. The use of HPGR in the Project reinforces the Company's commitment to the environment and designing a sustainable operation.
The testing is being conducted at the Natural Resources Research Institute ("NRRI") of the University of Minnesota-Duluth, in partnership with Weir Minerals. During the testing, which is expected to take several weeks, approximately 3 tonnes of Elk Creek drill core will be reduced to the 1-millimeter size needed for hydrometallurgical testwork. The testwork is expected to provide key data that will be used to properly size the HPGR unit for the potential ore throughput at the Elk Creek Project, once project financing is secured and the project is operational.
The Company is currently evaluating next steps in its overall metallurgical testwork program, which will focus on optimizing and streamlining the existing processing flowsheet as well as establishing process routes for the potential recovery of rare earth products. The rare earth products that are of most interest to the Company at present are Neodymium-Praseodymium ("NdPr") oxide, Terbium oxide and Dysprosium oxide. As previously announced, the Company has launched a review of the economic potential of expanding its currently planned product suite from the Project to also include rare earth products.
"After witnessing testing at NRRI, I was impressed with how the HPGR was able to handle the Elk Creek ore quickly and efficiently, with minimal noise and dust," said Scott Honan, NioCorp COO. "We look forward to completing this phase of the testwork and moving on to look at further improvements to the existing flowsheet, including our new emphasis around the rare earths."
Qualified Persons: Scott Honan, M.Sc., SME-RM, COO of NioCorp Developments Ltd., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in the news release.
@NioCorp $NB $NIOBF #ElkCreek #Niobium #Scandium #Nebraska
For More Information
Contact Jim Sims, VP of External Affairs, NioCorp Developments Ltd., 720-639-4650, jim.sims@niocorp.com
About NioCorp
NioCorp is developing a superalloy materials project in Southeast Nebraska that will produce Niobium, Scandium, and Titanium. Also under consideration by the Company is the production of several magnetic rare earth products. Niobium is used to produce superalloys as well as High Strength, Low Alloy ("HSLA") steel, which is a lighter, stronger steel used in automotive, structural, and pipeline applications. Scandium is a superalloy material that can be combined with Aluminum to make alloys with increased strength and improved corrosion resistance. Scandium is also a critical component of advanced solid oxide fuel cells. Titanium is used in various superalloys and is a key component of pigments used in paper, paint and plastics and is also used for aerospace applications, armor, and medical implants. Magnetic rare earths, such as Neodymium, Praseodymium, Terbium, and Dysprosium are critical to the making of Neodymium-Iron-Boron ("NdFeB") magnets, which are used across a wide variety of defense and civilian applications.
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>>> One Ultra-Rare Metal Is Doing Much Better Than Bitcoin This Year
Bloomberg
by Eddie Spence
March 26, 2021
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/one-ultra-rare-metal-doing-085318635.html
(Bloomberg) -- There’s one metal that’s leaving all commodities -- and even Bitcoin -- in the dust this year. The challenge for investors is buying it.
Iridium, one of the rarest precious metals and mined as a byproduct of platinum and palladium, has surged 131% since the start of January, far beating Bitcoin’s 85% gain. It has rallied on supply disruptions in the past year and rising demand for use in electronic screens, refiner Heraeus Group said.
With a market much smaller than its more famous sister metals, production issues can have a big impact on prices. Betting on it is difficult too, as demand is dominated by industrial users. Iridium isn’t traded on a bourse or through exchange-traded funds, retail buyers are limited to ingots from a handful of dealers and the few major investors dealing in it go straight to producers.
“The lead time on the supply side is too long to increase supply in a timely fashion,” said Jay Tatum, a portfolio manager at Valent Asset Management. “The only near-term solution is higher prices to get people to sell their existing holdings.”
Iridium, which is also used in spark plugs, has climbed to $6,000 an ounce, according to Johnson Matthey Plc data. That makes it more than three times more expensive than gold.
Part of iridium’s appeal comes from the limited investment in production of platinum, which is largely used in autocatalysts to curb emissions, while investors weigh potential increases in platinum demand from new hydrogen technologies against a shift to electric vehicles.
The outlook for tight supply also helped drive up prices of other platinum-group metals. Palladium is about 9% below an all-time high, rhodium reached a record $29,800 an ounce this week and ruthenium has rallied to an almost 13-year high.
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>>> MP Materials Announces Timing of Q4 and Fiscal Year 2020 Financial Results Release, Conference Call and Webcast
Yahoo Finance
February 8, 2021
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mp-materials-announces-timing-q4-210500594.html
MP Materials Corp. (NYSE: MP) ("MP Materials" or the "Company"), the largest rare earth materials producer in the Western Hemisphere, will release its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, after the U.S. markets close on Thursday, March 18, 2021.
In conjunction with this announcement, MP Materials’ management will host a conference call and webcast that afternoon at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (5:00 p.m. Eastern Time) to discuss and answer questions about the Company’s financial results. Prior to the conference call and webcast, the Company will issue a press release and post a slide presentation on the investor relations section of the Company’s website at https://investors.mpmaterials.com/.
Conference Call Details
Event: MP Materials Q4 and Fiscal Year 2020 Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast
Date: Thursday, March 18, 2021
Time: 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (5:00 p.m. Eastern Time)
Live call: (833) 350-1335
International: (236) 389-2432
Audio Replay: (800) 585-8367
Passcode: 8741996
Webcast: https://investors.mpmaterials.com/
The audio replay will be archived through April 1, 2021.
About MP Materials
MP Materials Corp. (NYSE: MP) is the largest producer of rare earth materials in the Western Hemisphere. With more than 275 employees, the Company owns and operates the Mountain Pass facility. This iconic American industrial asset is the only rare earth mining and processing site of scale in the Western Hemisphere and currently produces approximately 15% of global rare earth content. Separated rare earth elements are critical inputs for the magnets that enable the mobility of electric vehicles, drones, defense systems, wind turbines, robotics, and many other high-growth, advanced technologies. MP Materials’ integrated operations at Mountain Pass uniquely combine low production costs with best-in-class environmental standards, thereby restoring American leadership to a critical industry with a strong commitment to sustainability. More information is available at https://mpmaterials.com/.
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>>> Neo Performance Materials Inc. (NOPMF) (NEO.TO) - manufactures and sells rare earth and rare metal-based functional materials in Canada and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Magnequench, Chemicals and Oxides, and Rare Metals. The Magnequench segment produces magnetic powders that are used in bonded and hot deformed fully dense neodymium-iron-boron magnets. Its powders are used in the production of bonded permanent magnets that are components in automotive motors, micro motors, traction motors, sensors, and other applications. The Chemicals and Oxides segments manufactures and distributes a range of industrial materials for use in auto catalyst, consumer electronic, petroleum refining, hybrid and electric vehicle, and municipal and industrial wastewater treatment applications. The Rare Metals segment sources, produces, reclaims, refines, and markets high-temperature metals that include tantalum, niobium, hafnium, and rhenium; and electronic metals, such as gallium and indium. Its products are applied in super alloys for jet engines, medical imaging, wireless technologies, and LED lightings, as well as flat panel displays, solar, steel additives, batteries, and electronic applications. Neo Performance Materials Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
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>>> Lynas Rare Earths Limited (LYSCF), together with its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration, development, mining, extraction, and processing of rare earth minerals primarily in Australia and Malaysia. The company holds an interest in the Mount Weld project in Western Australia. Its products include neodymium and praseodymium, lanthanum, cerium, and mixed heavy rare earth materials. The company also develops and operates advanced material processing and concentration plants; and offers corporate services. The company was formerly known as Lynas Corporation Limited and changed its name to Lynas Corporation Limited in December 2020. Lynas Rare Earths Limited was incorporated in 1983 and is based in East Perth, Australia.
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>>> MP Materials Announces Financial Results for the Third Quarter and Year-To-Date Ended September 30, 2020
Business Wire
November 23, 2020
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mp-materials-announces-financial-results-210500906.html
Third Quarter 2020 Revenue Grew 52% Year-Over-Year to $41.0 Million
Net Income Increased 4.2x Year-Over-Year to $14.6 Million
Adjusted EBITDA Grew 159% Year-Over-Year to $11.6 million
MP Materials Corp. (NYSE: MP) ("MP Materials" or the "Company"), the largest rare earth materials producer in the Western Hemisphere, today announced its financial results for the third quarter and year-to-date ended September 30, 2020. A more detailed review of the year-to-date results can be found in the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission today.
"Our results show continued strong operational execution throughout 2020," said James Litinsky, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MP Materials. "With our business combination complete, MP has a fully equitized balance sheet to support the execution of our long-term plans to become a key supply chain partner as global industry advances towards electrification," added Litinsky. "Our next several quarters will be focused on our move downstream into production of higher-margin separated rare earths with a focus on NdPr. We expect to continue driving profitable growth as we produce our rare earth concentrate, which comprises 15% of global rare earth content today."
Recent Business Highlights
Completed its Business Combination with Fortress Value Acquisition Corp. on November 17, 2020, resulting in the listing of MP Materials shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "MP"
Through the business combination and related PIPE transaction, MP Materials raised $545 million to fully fund its three-stage business plan to restore the full rare earth materials supply chain to the U.S., closing a critical defense and economic security gap
On November 17, 2020, the Department of Defense ("DoD") announced that MP Materials was awarded a Defense Production Act Title III technology investment agreement, which includes a $9.6 million DoD contribution to MP’s Stage II optimization
Completed front-end engineering design (FEED) and all circuit designs for Stage II optimization
Q3 Financial and Operating Highlights
Third quarter revenue increased 52% year-over-year, to $41.0 million, driven primarily by higher realized pricing and inclusive of an $8.9 million tariff refund received
Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2020 increased 159% year-over-year to $11.6 million; the Adjusted EBITDA calculation excludes the $8.9 million benefit from the tariff refund
In the third quarter, MP produced 10,197 metric tons of contained rare earth oxide ("REO") in concentrate, higher both year-over-year and sequentially; production cost of $1,389 per metric ton of REO was down modestly on a sequential basis
MP sold 9,429 metric tons of REO in the quarter at an average realized price of $3,393 per metric ton; higher realized pricing was driven by higher market prices and the lifting of certain import duties; sold volumes fluctuate quarter to quarter based on production and shipment timing and MP continues to foresee 100% sell through of its production
Third Quarter and Year-To-Date 2020 Financial Results
Includes mainly advisory, consulting, accounting and legal expenses in connection with the business combination.
Includes mainly non-recurring costs for SAP implementation in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 and, in 2019, one-time severance payments to certain former members of our executive team.
Our royalty payments to SNR will be eliminated upon the consummation of the business combination. See "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Recent Developments and Comparability of Results—The Business Combination" in our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on November 23, 2020.
One-time settlement charge in connection with the termination of the Distribution and Marketing Agreement entered into with Leshan Shenghe Rare Earth Co., Ltd. in 2017. See "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Recent Developments and Comparability of Results—Our Relationship with Shenghe." in our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on November 23, 2020.
Represents non-cash revenue recognized in connection with tariff credits received from Shenghe Resources (Singapore) relating to product sales prior to May 2020, which is removed from Adjusted EBITDA to reflect the out-of-period income recognized without their related costs. See "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Recent Developments and Comparability of Results— Certain Tariff-related Rebates." in our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on November 23, 2020.
Includes mainly a mix of gains on sale of idle mining equipment following the 2017 acquisition of Mountain Pass and interest income on restricted cash.
Conference Call Details
MP Materials will host a conference call to discuss these results at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time tomorrow, Tuesday, November 24, 2020. To access the conference call, participants should dial (833) 350-1335 and international participants should dial (236) 389-2432 and enter the conference ID number 5090136. The live audio webcast along with the press release and accompanying slide presentation, will be accessible on the Company’s Investor Relations website at investors.mpmaterials.com. A recording of the webcast will also be available following the conference call.
About MP Materials
MP Materials Corp. (NYSE: MP) is the largest producer of rare earth materials in the Western Hemisphere. With over 270 employees, the Company owns and operates Mountain Pass, an iconic American industrial asset, which is the only rare earth mining and processing site of scale in the Western Hemisphere and currently produces approximately 15% of global rare earth content. Separated rare earth elements are critical inputs for the magnets that enable the mobility of electric vehicles, drones, defense systems, wind turbines, robotics and many other high-growth, advanced technologies. MP Materials’ integrated operations at Mountain Pass uniquely combine low production costs with best-in-class environmental standards, thereby restoring American leadership to a critical industry with a strong commitment to sustainability. More information is available at https://mpmaterials.com/.
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NioCorp (NIOBF) - Info from the Berkshire I-Hub board -
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=159775846
>>> I have a very substantial position in NB/NIOBF and believe it has the potential to be the greatest investment of my lifetime, given the sheer amount of proven REE at the site, and the current huge disconnect between the share price and the After Tax Net Present Value (NPV) ($9.47 per share US) of the project and proven assets, current offtake agreements, etc., as detailed in the latest Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS). The only thing holding things up right now is the final funding piece of around $986 Million. All of the construction and environmental permits, the Nebraska tax credits piece, and the land and site contracts are already in place.
Given the close proximity of the project and site to Omaha where BRK is headquartered and WB lives, there was some early thought that he might take a stake and fund the mine, but it is well below his threshold investment level. Although the likely gains over time are huge. There are NDA's in place with Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley right now. I am confident the financing piece will fall into place, and the list of worldwide reputable firms that are already under contract there is very impressive. NIOBF shares closed Friday at .59, which is dirt cheap compared to where the shares will be valued once construction starts and they begin to monetize the proven REE assets. After all, it is the only confirmed sources left in North America that has not already been tapped out. And the US is committed to not relying on China in this area.
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>>> MP Mine Operations LLC (MP), doing business as MP Materials, owns and operates Mountain Pass, which is a rare earth mining and processing site of scale in North America. The company engages in the mining and processing of rare earth concentrates, including Neodymium and Praseodymium (NdPr) oxide, Lanthanum and cerium oxides, and carbonates. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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>>> NioCorp's Elk Creek Superalloy Materials Project is Named as an Infrastructure "Project of the Year"
Yahoo Finance
October 29, 2020
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/niocorps-elk-creek-superalloy-materials-110000433.html
CENTENNIAL, Colo., Oct. 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NioCorp Developments Ltd. ("NioCorp" or the "Company") (TSX: NB; OTCQX: NIOBF) is pleased to announce that its Elk Creek Superalloy Materials Project (the "Project") has been selected as an "Infrastructure Project of the Year" by CG/LA Infrastructure, the global leader in infrastructure strategy and project development. The award was announced during the CG/LA Infrastructure's 12th North American Infrastructure Leadership Virtual Forum on October 28, 2020, at which NioCorp presented.
NioCorp's Project was originally named as one of the Top 100 infrastructure projects in the U.S. by CG/LA Infrastructure. This week, it was nominated as one of three top projects in the "Finance/Funding" category. The Elk Creek Project then received the most votes from infrastructure and industry leaders, and from the public, to earn the top position in its category.
The Infrastructure Project of the Year Awards, sponsored by leading capital project management software provider Oracle Construction and Engineering, are one of the highlights of every Leadership Forum event. The awards recognize the projects - and the leaders behind the projects - identified as global models. The projects are highlighted for their outstanding commitment across five categories: Job Creation, Sustainability/Green Infrastructure, Finance/Funding, Engineering, and Strategic.
More information on the CG/LA Infrastructure's selected Projects of the Year can be seen at GViP.io.
The award for Project of the Year in the Finance/Funding category is given to that infrastructure-related project that "establishes and/or most extends an innovative finance model, moving us closer to more, better and faster infrastructure investment. This is absolutely critical, given the pent-up demand for infrastructure finance in the world, and the creative solutions that many nations are developing," according to CG/LA Infrastructure.
"NioCorp is very pleased and proud to have received this recognition as an infrastructure project of the year, and we want to thank both CG/LA Infrastructure and Oracle for their support of this initiative," said NioCorp's CEO and Executive Chairman Mark A. Smith. "In my mind, this recognition is a testament to years of hard work by our team to advance this critical minerals project as well as to the growing recognition across the U.S. and the world of the absolute criticality of producing critical minerals such as niobium, scandium, and titanium here in the U.S."
"As the world works to rebuild and expand vital infrastructure systems, we are going to need secure and diversified supply chains for these critical minerals," he added. "NioCorp looks forward to helping to deliver these materials to infrastructure projects in the U.S. and globally."
Mr. Smith presented to the Conference on the Elk Creek Project earlier today in a live webcast. He also spoke about the Project in September at CG/LA Infrastructure's recent Global Infrastructure Leadership Forum. Both conferences featured participation by hundreds of industry, government, finance, and investment professionals from around the world.
@NioCorp $NB $NIOBF #Niobium #Scandium #ElkCreek #MarkSmith #NioCorp #CG-LA #infrastructure
For More Information
Contact Jim Sims, VP of External Affairs, NioCorp Developments Ltd., 303-503-6203, jim.sims@niocorp.com, https://www.niocorp.com
About NioCorp
NioCorp is developing a superalloy materials project in Southeast Nebraska that will produce Niobium, Scandium, and Titanium. Niobium is used to produce superalloys as well as High Strength, Low Alloy ("HSLA") steel, which is a lighter, stronger steel used in automotive, structural, and pipeline applications. Scandium is a superalloy material that can be combined with Aluminum to make alloys with increased strength and improved corrosion resistance. Scandium also is a critical component of advanced solid oxide fuel cells. Titanium is used in various superalloys and is a key component of pigments used in paper, paint and plastics and is also used for aerospace applications, armor and medical implants.
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>>> NioCorp Developments Ltd. (NIOBF) explores for and develops mineral deposits in North America. It owns and develops the Elk Creek niobium/scandium/titanium project located in Southeastern Nebraska. The company was formerly known as Quantum Rare Earth Developments Corp. and changed its name to NioCorp Developments Ltd. in March 2013. NioCorp Developments Ltd. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Centennial, Colorado.
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>>> MP Materials (MP) Completes Business Combination and Will Begin Trading on the NYSE under "MP"
Yahoo Finance
November 17, 2020
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mp-materials-completes-business-combination-210600394.html
MP Materials, the largest rare earth materials producer in the Western Hemisphere, today announced the completion of its business combination with Fortress Value Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: FVAC), a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC ("Fortress"). The combined company, MP Materials Corp. ("MP Materials" or "the Company"), will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) tomorrow, November 18th, under the ticker symbol "MP".
MP Materials owns and operates Mountain Pass, an iconic American industrial asset, which is the only rare earth mining and processing site of scale in the Western Hemisphere and currently produces approximately 15% of global rare earth content. The market for separated rare earth elements is expected to see significant growth, as these materials are critical inputs for the magnets that enable the mobility of electric vehicles, drones, defense systems, wind turbines, robotics and many other high-growth, advanced technologies. MP Materials’ integrated operations at Mountain Pass uniquely combine low production costs with best-in-class environmental standards, thereby restoring American leadership to a critical industry with a strong commitment to sustainability.
MP Materials raised $545 million in capital through the transaction, including $345 million of FVAC’s cash in trust and a $200 million PIPE led by institutional investors including Slate Path Capital, Chamath Palihapitiya and Omega Family Office. The capital raised from the transaction fully funds MP’s Stage II optimization plan, whereby the Company expects to become a fully integrated provider of separated rare earth oxides, with a focus on Neodymium-Praseodymium, one of the most crucial inputs for magnetics, by 2022.
"Today is an important milestone in our mission to restore the full rare earth supply chain to the United States of America," said James Litinsky, Chairman and CEO of MP Materials. "As world infrastructure electrifies, American leadership across this entire industrial supply chain is critical to our economic and national security. MP Materials has a profitable first stage business, a long term, multi-stage execution roadmap for value creation, a fully funded balance sheet, and a committed leadership team and Board of Directors. Our team is very proud to lead the way in onshoring a vital industry, to build a growing enterprise and to deliver positive outcomes to all of our stakeholders supported by our foundational commitments to sustainability and strong governance."
Litinsky continued, "I want to thank Drew McKnight and the Fortress team for their partnership and support and also welcome our new public investors to this exciting and important journey."
In addition to Chairman and CEO James Litinsky, MP Materials will continue to be led by its experienced management team, including: Michael Rosenthal, Chief Operating Officer; Ryan Corbett, Chief Financial Officer; and Sheila Bangalore, Chief Strategy Officer and General Counsel. In addition to Messrs. Litinsky and McKnight, the Company’s Board of Directors includes former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General (Ret.) Richard Myers; former Omnicom Group CFO Randy Weisenburger; Founder and CEO of QVT Financial LP, Dan Gold; Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Lockheed Martin Corporation, Maryanne Lavan; and former Partner and Managing Director of Goldman Sachs, Connie Duckworth.
Former CEO of FVAC, and Director of MP Materials, Drew McKnight said, "We are looking forward to participating with public shareholders in MP’s future success as the Company moves forward with its plans to bring the rare earth industry home to the United States. MP’s mission is not just a business plan - it’s an economic and security imperative for our country, and the entire leadership team and Board stand ready to execute with commitment and purpose on this tremendous opportunity."
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as financial advisor and Sidley Austin LLP acted as legal advisor to MP Mine Operations LLC (dba "MP Materials"). Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Murray Devine served as legal and financial advisor, respectively, to Secure Natural Resources LLC (the owner of the mineral rights at Mountain Pass), which is also a party to the combination and will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of MP Materials Corp. Deutsche Bank Securities and RBC Capital Markets, LLC served as financial advisors, capital markets advisors, and private placement agents to FVAC. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP acted as legal advisor to FVAC.
About MP Materials
MP Materials Corporation (NYSE: MP) is the largest producer of rare earth materials in the Western Hemisphere. With over 270 employees, the Company owns and operates Mountain Pass, an iconic American industrial asset, which is the only rare earth mining and processing site of scale in the Western Hemisphere and currently produces approximately 15% of global rare earth content. Separated rare earth elements are critical inputs for the magnets that enable the mobility of electric vehicles, drones, defense systems, wind turbines, robotics and many other high-growth, advanced technologies. MP Materials’ integrated operations at Mountain Pass uniquely combine low production costs with best-in-class environmental standards, thereby restoring American leadership to a critical industry with a strong commitment to sustainability. More information is available at https://mpmaterials.com/.
About Fortress Value Acquisition Corp.
Fortress Value Acquisition Corp. is a special purpose acquisition company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, and is sponsored by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC.
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>>> Does China Pose a Threat to Global Rare Earth Supply Chains?
https://chinapower.csis.org/china-rare-earths/
As China’s economy has developed over the last several decades, its leaders have sought to transform the country into a key player in strategically important industries. Toward this end, Beijing has established China as the dominant global supplier of rare earths, a collection of 17 minerals that are indispensable to the manufacturing of smartphones, electric vehicles, military weapon systems, and countless other advanced technologies.
Beijing has demonstrated a willingness to leverage its weight in the global rare earth industry in pursuit of its political objectives, raising alarm bells in several major countries. However, China’s influence within the industry is likely to be eroded in the coming years as changing market dynamics empower new actors to compete.
The Global Marketplace for Rare Earths
The global rare earths trade is relatively small compared to other commodities. In 2019, the value of worldwide rare earth imports stood at just $1.15 billion – a fraction of the more than $1 trillion in global crude oil imports. The total value of goods produced using rare earths, however, is immense. Each Apple iPhone, for example, relies on multiple rare earth elements. Neodymium is used to make tiny, yet powerful, magnets that allow iPhone speakers to function. Europium is used in trace amounts to produce red colors on screens, and cerium is used to polish the phones during the manufacturing process. During the 2019 fiscal year, Apple sold $142.4 billion worth of iPhones.
Despite their name, most rare earth elements are relatively abundant. The process of mining rare earths and transforming them into usable materials is, however, expensive and damaging to the environment. For years, Beijing exploited its relatively low-cost labor force and lax environmental laws to gain a competitive edge in the global market and become the leading supplier of rare earths. From 2008 to 2018, China exported nearly 408,000 metric tons of rare earths, which amounted to 42.3 percent of all rare earth exports over the period. The United States was the second-largest exporter, supplying roughly 9.3 percent of the global total. Malaysia (9.1 percent), Austria (9.0 percent), and Japan (7.1 percent) rounded out the top five.
According to China’s General Administration of Customs, China exported 45,552 metric tons of rare earths worth $398.8 million in 2019. The vast majority of these exports went to the world’s major economic and technological powerhouses. About 36 percent (by volume) went to Japan, making it the top destination of Chinese rare earths. The US was a close second, taking in 33.4 percent of Chinese exports. Alongside the Netherlands (9.6 percent), South Korea (5.4 percent), and Italy (3.5 percent), these five countries imported a combined 87.8 percent of China’s rare earth exports.
Breakdown of Global Rare Earth Exports (2008-2018)
Country Export Volume
(metric tons)
Share (%) Export Value
(millions of US$)
Share (%)
China 407,886.6 42.3 8,112.2 46.3
USA 89,467.1 9.3 953.6 5.4
Malaysia 87,696.1 9.1 942.4 5.4
Austria 87,055.1 9.0 867.8 5.0
Japan 68,412.9 7.1 2,172.6 12.4
Rest of World 223,172.7 23.2 4,467.7 25.5
Source: UN Comtrade Database
At 42.6 percent of total exports by volume, lanthanum was China’s top rare earth export by a wide margin. Lanthanum is used in significant quantities in hybrid vehicle batteries. Each Toyota Prius, for instance, contains some 10-15 kilograms (kg) of the substance. Terbium, which is significantly more expensive, was China’s top export by value, accounting for roughly 14.5 percent ($57.9 million) of the country’s total exports in 2019. Terbium is primarily used in solid-state electronic devices but is also used in sonar systems and television screens.
China’s Push to Dominate the Rare Earth Industry
China’s dominance in the rare earth industry is the result of decades of targeted industrial policies aimed at leapfrogging other nations. In recent years, Beijing has also looked to reform China’s rare earth industry to enhance efficiency, better protect the environment, and crack down on illegal mining.
The Chinese government took major steps to support its nascent rare earth industry by issuing export tax rebates in the mid-1980s. The rebates lowered costs for Chinese mining companies, which allowed them to gain a foothold in the global market. From 1985 to 1995, China’s rare earth mining production exploded from just 8,500 metric tons to roughly 48,000 metric tons, and its share of global mining output widened from 21.4 percent to 60.1 percent.1
As China’s mining capacity expanded, rare earth producers in other countries began to shift their production to China to take advantage of the country’s low labor costs and weak environmental regulations. However, in 1990, the Chinese government declared rare earths to be protected and strategic minerals, which prohibited foreign firms from mining rare earths within China and restricted foreign participation in rare earth processing projects, except in joint ventures with Chinese firms. This enabled Chinese companies to gain foreign know-how through these partnerships while steadily cutting out foreign competition from the supply chain.
These measures were successful at developing China’s rare earth industry, but export quotas proved to be Beijing’s most consequential policy. Starting in the late 1990s, Beijing began imposing tiered quotas designed to discourage the export of cheaper upstream products like raw ores and encourage the export of oxides, metals, and alloys – the forms of rare earth minerals ready to be used in downstream products.
Beijing steadily tightened its export quotas and then abruptly slashed them by 37 percent in 2010, allowing just 30,259 metric tons to be exported. The move caused the average price of global rare earth imports to skyrocket from $9,461 per metric ton in 2009 to nearly $66,957 in 2011. Many manufacturers in the US, Japan, and Europe were left struggling to afford supplies of rare earths, while China held a glut of supplies at home.
Cheap domestic supplies of rare earths gave Chinese manufacturers the opportunity to scale up the production of key products like permanent magnets, which are integral to the functioning of wind turbines, hybrid vehicles, and other advanced technologies. Beijing’s policies allowed China to capture nearly all of the global market. As of 2019, China still produced roughly 85 percent of the world’s rare earth oxides and approximately 90 percent of rare earth metals, alloys, and permanent magnets.
While successful, Beijing’s policies put China in the crosshairs of major rare earth importers. In 2012, the US, EU, and Japan filed a series of trade disputes against China in the World Trade Organization (WTO), claiming that Chinese government policies were unfairly benefiting its industry at the expense of other countries. The WTO ruled against China in 2014, and by 2015 China finally ended its export quota system.
World Trade Organization
Through 2019, the US, EU, and other countries filed 44 disputes against China in the World Trade Organization. What were the causes of these disputes? Find out in our feature on China’s influence in the WTO.
As China’s rare earth industry has matured, recent government policies have focused on boosting efficiency, limiting environmental damage, and reducing illegal mining. Below is a list of important plans and strategies relating to rare earths.
In 2016, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the Rare Earth Industry Development Plan (2016-2020), which set goals for capping rare earth mining production at 140 metric tons per year by 2020, boosting spending on research and development, and cracking down on illegal mining and smuggling of rare earths.
China’s “Made in China 2025” strategy, announced in 2015, seeks to transform China into a leader in 10 strategically important high-tech industries. While the strategy does not list rare earths among its 10 key technologies, it calls for promoting the “intelligentization” of the rare earth industry. Chinese government documents and industry experts have also made clear that rare earths will be needed to support all 10 technologies.
China’s State Council released a white paper, “Situation and Policies of China’s Rare Earth Industry,” in 2010, which outlined goals for improving industry regulation, reducing resource use, and enhancing environmental protection.
The National Medium- and Long-Term Program (MLP) for Science and Technology Development (2006-2020) lists rare earths among key materials that are needed to support basic industries.
Deep Reliance on China
China has demonstrated a willingness to leverage its influence in the global rare earth industry in pursuit of its political objectives. While several major countries have sought to limit their exposure to supply chain disruptions emanating from China, they nonetheless remain deeply reliant on Chinese rare earth exports.
Beijing’s most notable use of rare earths as a political tool came in 2010 amid a heated dispute with Tokyo. After Japan arrested the captain of a Chinese fishing boat that rammed a Japanese Coast Guard vessel in the waters near the contested Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, China restricted rare earth exports to Japan for two months.
The impact on Japan’s supply chains was limited, but it highlighted the country’s reliance on China for more than 80 percent of its rare earth imports. Tokyo quickly took steps to limit future supply chain disruptions. In 2011, Japan’s Sojitz Corporation and government-owned Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) invested $250 million in Australian miner, Lynas Corporation. The financial boost helped Lynas to become the only supplier outside of China capable of processing rare earths, and the company now supplies Japan with nearly one-third of its rare earth imports.
Nearly a decade later, China again sought to leverage its strength in the global rare earth market – this time against the US. Amid searing US-China trade tensions, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited a rare earth facility in Jiangxi province in May 2019, which many interpreted as a warning to the US. An article published in People’s Daily seemed to confirm these suspicions when it hinted that China could cut off exports to the US as a “counter weapon” in the trade war. Days later, Beijing raised tariffs on US rare earths (and other products) from 10 to 25 percent. The Trump administration reportedly drew up plans for its own tariffs on Chinese rare earths, but never implemented them due to concerns that this would leave US companies exposed with no affordable alternative suppliers.
Policymakers in the US are particularly concerned about the threat of supply chain disruptions to the US defense industry, which uses rare earths in a wide range of technologies, from sonar and communication equipment to missiles and jet engines. According to the Congressional Research Service, each US F-35 multirole fighter requires about 427 kg of rare earths, and each Virginia-class nuclear submarine requires nearly 4.2 metric tons.
US Defense Applications of Rare Earths
Element
Communication Electric Motors Guidance and Control Targeting and Weapons
Dysprosium ? ?
Europium ? ?
Lanthanum ?
Lutetium ?
Neodymium ? ? ?
Praseodymium ? ?
Samarium ? ?
Terbium ? ? ?
Yttrium ? ?
Note: There are also numerous rare earths used for electronic warfare technologies.
Source: Congressional Research Service
In recent years, the US has sought to reestablish itself as a major world supplier of rare earths. After being shuttered for years, the US’ only rare earth mine, located in Mountain Pass, California, came under new ownership in 2017 and resumed production. However, the mined material that it produces is still sent to China for processing. The US government has also made notable policy changes, including the May 2018 addition of rare earths to a list of minerals deemed critical to US economic and national security. In July 2019, President Trump also declared rare earth metals and alloys “essential to the national defense,” which freed up resources for the Department of Defense (DoD) to take action to secure a domestic rare earth production capability.
Other economies have sought to reduce rare earth imports from China. The EU funded an initiative that has developed a process for recycling permanent magnet waste into new alloys and materials, which aims to both reduce dependence on China and help Europe meet its climate change goals. South Korea has sought to diversify its supplies of rare earths by reducing imports from China and increasing imports from Japan, as well as by finding innovative ways to reduce consumption of rare earths.
Among these major economies, only Japan has achieved some success at reducing reliance on China. From 2008 to 2018, the share of Japanese rare earth imports from China fell from 91.3 percent to 58 percent. As of 2018, the US still imported 80.5 percent of its rare earths from China. The EU and South Korea have successfully diversified their imports of certain compounds, like cerium, but they remain almost completely reliant on China for imports of rare earth metals and alloys.2 For example, the EU imported 7,105.9 metric tons of cerium compounds in 2018, of which less than one-quarter came from China. However, nearly all (98.5 percent) of its imports of rare earth metals and alloys came from China.
Reliance on Chinese Rare Earth Metals and Alloys (2018)
Economy Imports from China (metric tons)
Total Imports % of Imports from China
EU 869.2 882.2 98.5
USA 417.6 438.6 95.2
South Korea 86.1 94.6 90.9
Japan 4,233.4 8,729.2 48.5
Note: Excludes oxides and other compounds
Source: UN Comtrade Database
Growing Global Competition
While China maintains a commanding presence within the global rare earth industry, Beijing’s capacity to unilaterally disrupt supply chains is likely to be eroded in the coming years. A number of initiatives are underway that may prove successful at establishing new rare earth suppliers outside of China. Shifting market dynamics are likely to aid these efforts.
There are already signs that other players have started to chip away at China’s dominance in certain areas. Mining of raw rare earth materials outside of China has ramped up significantly in recent years as the US’ Mountain Pass mine, and other mines around the world, have increased their output. China’s share of global mining production has slipped as a result, from a high of 97.7 percent in 2010 to 62.9 percent in 2019 – the lowest point since 1995. China’s share of global rare earth reserves has likewise fallen from 50 percent to 36.7 percent over the same period.3
China’s status as the preeminent supplier of oxides, metals, and permanent magnets has not been similarly diminished – but it may be in the coming years. In the US, the company MP Materials is working to bring online facilities at Mountain Pass that would allow it to process its mined minerals, instead of sending them to China for processing. The company aims to accomplish this in 2021 and to establish the ability to refine and separate rare earth metals in the coming years.
International efforts are also underway. In April 2020, the US DoD green-lit initial funding for a joint venture between Australia’s Lynas Corporation and US-based Blue Line Corporation to construct a processing facility in Texas. If successful, it would allow Lynas to ship rare earth materials from its processing facility in Malaysia to the US for final processing – rather than to China. The Japanese government (through JOGMEC) is looking to invest in US and Australian initiatives, likely including the new facility in Texas. These steps are part of Tokyo’s announced goal of further reducing Japan’s reliance on Chinese rare earth imports to less than 50 percent by 2025.
Due to growing demand for rare earths, these ventures will likely be more successful than previous attempts to establish rare earth suppliers outside of China. Much of this new demand is being driven by rapid growth of the renewable energy and electric vehicle industries, which utilize large quantities of rare earth permanent magnets. From 2007 to 2017, China’s production of renewable and nuclear energy more than tripled, accounting for roughly 51 percent of the global increase in production over this period. China’s electric vehicle market is growing even faster. Between 2014 and 2019, the number of electric vehicles in China swelled from approximately 90,000 to nearly 3.4 million.
As China’s domestic consumption of rare earths grows, the country will be increasingly reliant on imports to feed its appetite for the materials. China already became the world’s largest importer of rare earths in 2018, and it is expected to become a net importer by the middle of the decade. Under these conditions, Beijing’s influence over the global rare earth industry would be significantly reduced, and new players might finally find themselves able to compete.
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Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (UURAF)
https://investorplace.com/2020/07/7-penny-stocks-worth-the-danger-as-pandemic-catalyzes-growth/
Ucore Rare Metals may rise for the same reason that Lynas has risen. However, this seems to be much more speculative. Lynas is clearly a legitimate company with real operations. Ucore has much less transparency behind it. Its website is very thin on information. Nevertheless, it is a stock to keep an eye on.
The company has supposedly developed a new, efficient process for separating and purifying rare earth elements. If it indeed aligns itself with U.S. national defense and can deliver, it should rise exponentially.
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Lynas Corporation Limited (LYC)
https://investorplace.com/2020/07/7-penny-stocks-worth-the-danger-as-pandemic-catalyzes-growth/
Lynas Corporation is a rare earths miner. There are many such companies, but what sets Lynas apart is one powerful catalyst: its strategic partnership with the U.S. Government.
The U.S. Government is worried about its ability to produce strategically important minerals. It is particularly worried about its over-reliance on China for strategic minerals used across industries. To that end it has given a contract to Lynas, an Australian company with significant operations in Malaysia. The contract will allow Lynas to begin building a heavy rare earth separation facility in Texas.
When completed, the facility will be the only plant which can separate such metals outside of China. This should make clear the strategic importance of the contract. This looks like a potentially huge business with massive growth potential.
Shares currently trade in the $2.50 range but jumped on the news. The Texas facility design will be ready sometime in 2021. U.S.-China tensions will dominate headlines perhaps for several decades. Thus, shares in companies like Lynas, which benefit from that reality, have great potential to grow for a long period.
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (UURAF)
Ucore Rare Metals may rise for the same reason that Lynas has risen. However, this seems to be much more speculative. Lynas is clearly a legitimate company with real operations. Ucore has much less transparency behind it. Its website is very thin on information. Nevertheless, it is a stock to keep an eye on.
The company has supposedly developed a new, efficient process for separating and purifying rare earth elements. If it indeed aligns itself with U.S. national defense and can deliver, it should rise exponentially.
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>>> The World's Rarest Minerals Are Finally Cataloged
Forbes
7-12-16
by Trevor Nace
https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2016/07/12/the-worlds-rarest-minerals-are-finally-catalogued/#1f1fcb4d7d02
Nevadaite is one of the world’s rarest minerals. It is formed from the elements vanadium and copper under very specific and extreme environmental conditions. The mineral crystals are a bright blue color but microscopic. Nevadaite is only found in two locations—Eureka County, Nevada, and a copper mine in Kyrgyzstan.
Geologists have sifted through over 5,000 minerals known to date and identified a handful of the world's rarest minerals, many times rarer than diamonds. These minerals were created in extreme instances where you had to have the perfect ratio and amount of elements in specific speciations, ideal temperature and pressure and let's not forget time. The combination of these factors produce some out of this world minerals, many of which are more rare than the most expensive gemstones in the world.
Some of the world's rarest minerals are so small in quantity. The world supply could fit on a quarter, with the whole world's supply being smaller than the world's largest uncut diamond. The key defining feature to categorize an extremely rare mineral is that it is found in five or fewer sites around the globe, with many of the minerals on the list only being found in one known location on Earth.
Due to the extreme environment many of these minerals were formed, some will melt at normal atmospheric conditions, evaporate entirely or decompose in sunlight. However, the clues these minerals provide scientists are indicative of extreme conditions found within the Earth's crust. In addition, clues as to the biological history of the Earth is linked to many of these rare minerals.
Dr. Robert Hazen from the Carnegie Institute recently published a paper in American Mineralogist outlining the nature and significance of the world's rarest minerals. Hazen identified four key criteria that describe rare minerals.
Specific and extreme temperature and pressure, often with limited ranges during mineralization.
Presence of extremely rare elements that are not often found on Earth's surface or outer crust.
The presence of unusual ambient conditions, where the mineral would rapidly break down under normal ambient conditions.
Sample bias that comes about when there is a lack of crystal faces to detect, microscopic minerals that go unnoticed, locations that are under sampled and hard to get to, etc.
Dr. Hazen points out that many of the gems portrayed as rare are in fact not considered mineralogically rare, often times found abundantly in many places around the world.
"However, diamond, ruby, emerald, and other precious gems are found at numerous localities and are sold in commercial quantities, and thus are not rare in the sense used in this contribution. Uses of the word “rare” in the context of “rare earth elements” or “rare metals” are similarly misleading, as many thousands of tons of these commodities are produced annually."
Of the total 5,090 minerals cataloged, less than 100 of those minerals make up approximately 99% of the Earth's crust, and just a few speciations of Feldspar make up about 60%. The subset of extremely rare minerals is often intertwined with biological processes or a result of biogeochemistry. Interested to read more, login to iBooks to download the National Geographic book on minerals and rocks.
One of the rarest minerals in the world is Fingerite, only known to exist near the summit of the Izalco Volcano in El Salvador. This extremely rare mineral is a specific combination of vanadium and copper that require a very narrow range of environmental conditions to form. On top of that, it's so unstable that every time it rains, Fingertie washes away.
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>>> MP Materials eyes magnet business amid US plans to refine rare earths
S+P Global Market Intelligence
8-30-19
by Kip Keen
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/mp-materials-eyes-magnet-business-amid-us-plans-to-refine-rare-earths-53922737
MP Materials wants to break into the rare earth magnet market, on the heels of plans to bring rare earth refining back to the U.S. at its Mountain Pass mine in California, as demand for electric vehicles grows.
"We'd like to be leaders in the domestic development of this supply chain," MP Materials Co-Chairman James Litinsky said in an interview with S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The rare earth supply chain, which China dominates, has come under increased scrutiny amid a U.S.-China trade war and as the U.S. administration pushes to protect and grow domestic production of materials it considers key to national security.
In 2018, the U.S. placed rare earths on a list of critical minerals. More recently, Trump labeled processing capacity of the metals as crucial to the U.S. defense sector through a series of "presidential determinations." Meanwhile, the Pentagon is reportedly assessing supply of rare earths in the U.S. and Australia, one of the few countries that produces them outside of China.
While MP Materials mines rare earths in the U.S. and sends its concentrate to China for separation, it recently outlined plans to restart separation capacity in the U.S. through an expansion at Mountain Pass.
MP Materials, largely relying on existing facilities, plans to process its concentrate into neodymium and praseodymium, two rare earths that are key inputs to high-strength or "permanent" magnets.
"We'll be making separated rare earths by the end of next year," Litinsky said.
MP Materials is majority-owned by Chicago hedge fund JHL Capital Group and QVT Financial LP. Shenghe Resources Holding Co. Ltd., a Chinese firm, owns a 9.9% interest.
Once separation begins, MP Materials would like to move downstream as a direct manufacturer of rare earth magnets, Litinsky said. In part, the strategy aims to capture demand for the magnets from the growing electric vehicle sector, where they are used in motors.
MP Materials has said it produces over 5,000 tonnes of concentrate a month, accounting for about 10% of the global market.
A recent media report pegged part of the expansion cost at US$200 million, but Litinsky said it would not require that intense of a capital investment. Clarifying, he said the investor group has already spent about US$200 million assembling assets and restarting production at Mountain Pass.
To help refine Mountain Pass concentrates, MP Materials expects to build roasting facilities to remove unwanted cerium from its concentrate. Otherwise it will restart existing facilities at Mountain Pass that were constructed by previous owners. "We're not building out solvent extraction," he said. "It's already built out."
Mountain Pass' previous owner Molycorp Inc. shuttered the mine in 2015. The asset was bought in 2017 by MP Materials' owners for US$20.5 million and resumed operations last year.
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Fortress Value (FVAC) - >>> Electric Vehicles, U.S.-China Trade and Commodities: Play Them All With 1 Stock.
Barron's
By Nicholas Jasinski and Al Root
July 20, 2020
https://www.barrons.com/articles/electric-vehicles-china-rare-earth-minerals-commodities-trade-spacs-merger-51595276024?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo
Electric-vehicle fever, U.S.-China geopolitics, commodity cycles, and special-purpose acquisition companies. A coming merger—that of Fortress Value Acquisition Corp. and MP Materials, an owner and operator of North America’s largest rare-earths mineral mine—will produce a stock that investors can use to play all of those forces.
Fortress Value (ticker: FVAC) is a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, backed by private-equity firm Fortress Investment Group. It announced an agreement last week to combine with privately held MP, valuing the miner at about $1 billion before proceeds. The deal will provide MP with the $345 million in the SPAC’s trust, in addition to $200 million from a private investment in public equity, or PIPE, from investors including Social Capital-founder Chamath Palihapitiya and Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors. After expenses, the cash will largely go to MP’s balance sheet to be invested in its next stage of growth.
This is a group of sophisticated investors putting real money into MP Materials, which will effectively go public through the transaction.
MP, which refers to the Mountain Pass mine in California, doesn’t produce just any old commodity. Rare-earth metals are 17 obscure elements at the bottom of the periodic table that show up in a variety of industrial, military, and technology applications. Rare earths include elements with strange names such as cerium, praseodymium, and neodymium, as well as superconductor component yttrium.
From time to time, rare earths come up in trade and economic-security arguments, because China dominates the market, producing about 60% of the global total. That is a large share, but rare earths are, well, rare. That 60% amounts to about 132,000 tons, a relatively insignificant quantity in the context of the global economy. The world’s production of copper—not even the metal in widest use—is about 20 million tons annually. The rarity makes them a factor in geopolitical calculations. U.S. officials have more than once referred to China’s heft in the rare-earths supply chain as a strategic threat.
The Mountain Pass site’s recent history involves now-defunct Molycorp, which began investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the mine around 2010. The timing was fortuitous for the fledgling company: Rare-earth metal pricing spiked in 2011 after China restricted exports. But trade restrictions eventually eased, prices fell, and Molycorp ended up filing for bankruptcy in 2015.
MP Materials was founded by part of the creditor group in the Molycorp bankruptcy restructuring. New owners can often acquire capital assets at a discount after the original operator goes bankrupt. That is what happened to satellite communications operator Iridium (IRDM). Also, Tesla (TSLA) bought its U.S. plant in Fremont, Calif., at a discount from General Motors (GM) during the financial crisis.
The growth of Tesla and other EV pioneers are also part of the MP story, but for a different, more important reason. Tesla is now the world’s most valuable car company, dwarfing century-old car makers such as GM, Ford Motor (F), and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU). It has convinced investors that electric vehicles are the future. Nikola (NKLA), Fisker (SPAQ), and Hyliion (SHLL) have jumped on the trend, and are developing electric and hybrid cars and trucks. Each has merged or is planning to merge with a SPAC to go public.
But electricity-powered vehicles can’t move without high-end electric motors, which use magnets with rare-earth metals in them. Electric cars, with less than 2% global penetration of new-car sales in 2019, amounted to about 9% of total demand for MP’s rare-earth materials last year. That penetration of the global car market is expected to increase substantially in coming years, as consumers warm to the technology and governments around the world set EV targets.
James Litinsky is MP Materials’ chairman, and will also become CEO once the transaction closes later this year. He likens MP’s relationship with the EV developers as the entrepreneurs selling pickaxes and shovels to miners in the California gold rush of the mid 19th century. All EVs need electric motors, which need rare-earth elements for the magnets that make them work.
“Regardless of which EV company or battery technology wins out, we believe that rare-earth magnets are the best way to play electrification,” Litinsky says.
It might be, but MP doesn’t benefit directly from EV penetration any more than Alcoa (AA) benefits from the increasing use of aluminum in car bodies. But both companies indirectly benefit as the overall demand for the underlying commodities grows.
Growth is important for pricing and volumes and stock market success, but a miner and chemical processor are still in the commodity business. That means supply-demand dynamics are key. Being a low-cost producer is the best sustainable advantage. MP believes it has that moat, by virtue of having high ore grades, which require less work to get the same amount of metal. A 10% ore grade, for instance, requires 10 tons of material to be moved and processed to get a ton of salable product. A 5% ore grade means a miner is digging up and processing 20 tons of material for the same sales. More processing means more cost.
MP says its ore grade is about 8%. Lynas (LYC.Australia), an Australian rare-earth miner worth roughly $1 billion, says its ore grade at a key project is about 8% as well.
Ore grade is one part of the value equation, along with product mix. Right now, MP sends a concentrated ore to China for final processing. Management’s plan is to take the new capital from the SPAC merger and produce a finished product in the U.S. That would mean higher sales and margins than currently realized.
Business isn’t bad now, and it is cash-flow positive—not something that can be said about many of the newly public EV ventures. MP reported $10 million in adjusted Ebitda, short for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and taxes, during the first quarter. The company’s financial projections estimate $250 million in Ebitda by 2023, after the new processing plant is completed. Materials companies in the S&P 500 typically trade for about 10 to 11 times estimated next year’s Ebitda.
The deal with Fortress Value includes an earn-out for the sponsor shares in the SPAC, meaning that the postmerger stock price needs to rise to certain levels before sponsors can benefit. Half of Fortress Value’s 8.6 million postmerger shares—about 23% of the total—will now vest at $12, a quarter at $14, and a quarter at $16. That will reduce dilution for other shareholders, and underlines the fact that Fortress Value believes in the long-term potential of MP Materials, or else it wouldn’t have agreed to the earn-out.
A common fault for many SPACs is that sponsors can have more incentive to get any deal done than getting a good deal done. Fortress Value’s tweak to its sponsor shares is designed to address that criticism directly, and is a good sign for investors.
“When people talk with SPACs, the promote tends to be the elephant in the room,” says Andrew McKnight, CEO of Fortress Value and a managing partner at Fortress. “We wanted to get rid of that, and show that we really do believe in this asset.”
MP Materials’ current owners are also rolling over their entire stakes into the combined company rather than using it as a chance to cash out, another promising signal for investors.
Fortress Value stock spiked 10% on Wednesday after the deal announcement, but fell back slightly on Thursday and closed on Friday at $10.93. Shares rose 3.6% to $11.32 on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up less than 0.1% and the S&P 500 gained 0.8%.
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>>> U.S. rare earths miner MP Materials to go public in $1.47 billion deal
Reuters
Ernest Scheyder
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mp-materials-ipo/rare-earths-miner-mp-materials-to-go-public-in-1-5-billion-spac-deal-idUSKCN24G1WT
(Reuters) - U.S. rare earths miner MP Materials will go public in a $1.47 billion deal by merging with a private-equity backed blank-check company, underscoring Wall Street’s rising interest in efforts to boost production of the strategic minerals.
The listing on the New York Stock Exchange would be the first for a U.S. rare earths company since Molycorp went public a decade ago. Molycorp filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and MP Materials bought California’s Mountain Pass mine and other Molycorp assets in 2017.
The deal, announced on Wednesday, comes as President Donald Trump pushes to resume domestic production and processing of rare earths, a group of 17 minerals used to build weapons and electronics. China is the world’s largest producer of these minerals and has threatened to stop their export to the United States.
Reviving domestic rare earths production has become a priority in Washington as relations with China have become increasingly frayed and U.S. lawmakers warn of the dangers of relying on a competitor for critical defense components.
Hedge funds JHL Capital Group and QVT Financial will fold their ownership of MP into the special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Fortress Value Acquisition Corp FVAC_u.N, shares of which gained 9.7% on Wednesday. Fortress is controlled by Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T).
SPACs have been behind some recent high-profile public listings, including electric car maker Fisker, which announced its plans earlier this week.
MP will net about $489 million from the deal and a separate stock offering for several private investors, including venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya and the hedge fund Slate Path Capital, which is a major shareholder in Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO), the world’s second-largest gold producer.
MP plans to use the funds to upgrade outdated and mothballed Molycorp-era processing equipment in California.
MP had planned to process 5,000 tonnes per year of the two most common rare earth metals by the end of 2020, though the goal is now by 2022, the company said on Wednesday.
MP is by far the most advanced player in the U.S. rare earths industry, given no rival project has even broken ground. But the company has to ship more than 50,000 tonnes of concentrated rare earths per year to China for final processing because its California equipment is not operational. Chinese customers account for all of MP’s $100 million in annual revenue.
Jim Litinsky, MP’s co-chairman, will become chief executive of the new company, which will trade under the stock ticker “MP.” Retired U.S. General Richard Myers, who chaired the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the George W. Bush presidency, will join the company’s board.
It was not immediately clear if China’s Shenghe Resources Holding Co Ltd (600392.SS), which owns 9.9% of MP, would participate in the Fortress deal, though the conversion likely will give Shenghe an equity holding in the newly formed public company. Shenghe did not respond to a request for comment. MP declined to comment.
Reuters reported earlier this year that Shenghe’s stake in MP had prompted concern from scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute, the focal point of the U.S. government’s rare earths research and a facility that typically works closely with private industry.
The U.S. Department of Defense awarded funding in late April to MP for a facility to process heavy rare earths, a less-common type of the specialized minerals.
But that decision was put on hold a few days later pending “further research,” according to a Pentagon document seen by Reuters.
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MP Materials / Fortress Value - >>> Electric Vehicles, U.S.-China Trade and Commodities: Play Them All With 1 Stock.
Barron's
By Nicholas Jasinski and Al Root
July 20, 2020
https://www.barrons.com/articles/electric-vehicles-china-rare-earth-minerals-commodities-trade-spacs-merger-51595276024?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo
Electric-vehicle fever, U.S.-China geopolitics, commodity cycles, and special-purpose acquisition companies. A coming merger—that of Fortress Value Acquisition Corp. and MP Materials, an owner and operator of North America’s largest rare-earths mineral mine—will produce a stock that investors can use to play all of those forces.
Fortress Value (ticker: FVAC) is a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, backed by private-equity firm Fortress Investment Group. It announced an agreement last week to combine with privately held MP, valuing the miner at about $1 billion before proceeds. The deal will provide MP with the $345 million in the SPAC’s trust, in addition to $200 million from a private investment in public equity, or PIPE, from investors including Social Capital-founder Chamath Palihapitiya and Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors. After expenses, the cash will largely go to MP’s balance sheet to be invested in its next stage of growth.
This is a group of sophisticated investors putting real money into MP Materials, which will effectively go public through the transaction.
MP, which refers to the Mountain Pass mine in California, doesn’t produce just any old commodity. Rare-earth metals are 17 obscure elements at the bottom of the periodic table that show up in a variety of industrial, military, and technology applications. Rare earths include elements with strange names such as cerium, praseodymium, and neodymium, as well as superconductor component yttrium.
From time to time, rare earths come up in trade and economic-security arguments, because China dominates the market, producing about 60% of the global total. That is a large share, but rare earths are, well, rare. That 60% amounts to about 132,000 tons, a relatively insignificant quantity in the context of the global economy. The world’s production of copper—not even the metal in widest use—is about 20 million tons annually. The rarity makes them a factor in geopolitical calculations. U.S. officials have more than once referred to China’s heft in the rare-earths supply chain as a strategic threat.
The Mountain Pass site’s recent history involves now-defunct Molycorp, which began investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the mine around 2010. The timing was fortuitous for the fledgling company: Rare-earth metal pricing spiked in 2011 after China restricted exports. But trade restrictions eventually eased, prices fell, and Molycorp ended up filing for bankruptcy in 2015.
MP Materials was founded by part of the creditor group in the Molycorp bankruptcy restructuring. New owners can often acquire capital assets at a discount after the original operator goes bankrupt. That is what happened to satellite communications operator Iridium (IRDM). Also, Tesla (TSLA) bought its U.S. plant in Fremont, Calif., at a discount from General Motors (GM) during the financial crisis.
The growth of Tesla and other EV pioneers are also part of the MP story, but for a different, more important reason. Tesla is now the world’s most valuable car company, dwarfing century-old car makers such as GM, Ford Motor (F), and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU). It has convinced investors that electric vehicles are the future. Nikola (NKLA), Fisker (SPAQ), and Hyliion (SHLL) have jumped on the trend, and are developing electric and hybrid cars and trucks. Each has merged or is planning to merge with a SPAC to go public.
But electricity-powered vehicles can’t move without high-end electric motors, which use magnets with rare-earth metals in them. Electric cars, with less than 2% global penetration of new-car sales in 2019, amounted to about 9% of total demand for MP’s rare-earth materials last year. That penetration of the global car market is expected to increase substantially in coming years, as consumers warm to the technology and governments around the world set EV targets.
James Litinsky is MP Materials’ chairman, and will also become CEO once the transaction closes later this year. He likens MP’s relationship with the EV developers as the entrepreneurs selling pickaxes and shovels to miners in the California gold rush of the mid 19th century. All EVs need electric motors, which need rare-earth elements for the magnets that make them work.
“Regardless of which EV company or battery technology wins out, we believe that rare-earth magnets are the best way to play electrification,” Litinsky says.
It might be, but MP doesn’t benefit directly from EV penetration any more than Alcoa (AA) benefits from the increasing use of aluminum in car bodies. But both companies indirectly benefit as the overall demand for the underlying commodities grows.
Growth is important for pricing and volumes and stock market success, but a miner and chemical processor are still in the commodity business. That means supply-demand dynamics are key. Being a low-cost producer is the best sustainable advantage. MP believes it has that moat, by virtue of having high ore grades, which require less work to get the same amount of metal. A 10% ore grade, for instance, requires 10 tons of material to be moved and processed to get a ton of salable product. A 5% ore grade means a miner is digging up and processing 20 tons of material for the same sales. More processing means more cost.
MP says its ore grade is about 8%. Lynas (LYC.Australia), an Australian rare-earth miner worth roughly $1 billion, says its ore grade at a key project is about 8% as well.
Ore grade is one part of the value equation, along with product mix. Right now, MP sends a concentrated ore to China for final processing. Management’s plan is to take the new capital from the SPAC merger and produce a finished product in the U.S. That would mean higher sales and margins than currently realized.
Business isn’t bad now, and it is cash-flow positive—not something that can be said about many of the newly public EV ventures. MP reported $10 million in adjusted Ebitda, short for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and taxes, during the first quarter. The company’s financial projections estimate $250 million in Ebitda by 2023, after the new processing plant is completed. Materials companies in the S&P 500 typically trade for about 10 to 11 times estimated next year’s Ebitda.
The deal with Fortress Value includes an earn-out for the sponsor shares in the SPAC, meaning that the postmerger stock price needs to rise to certain levels before sponsors can benefit. Half of Fortress Value’s 8.6 million postmerger shares—about 23% of the total—will now vest at $12, a quarter at $14, and a quarter at $16. That will reduce dilution for other shareholders, and underlines the fact that Fortress Value believes in the long-term potential of MP Materials, or else it wouldn’t have agreed to the earn-out.
A common fault for many SPACs is that sponsors can have more incentive to get any deal done than getting a good deal done. Fortress Value’s tweak to its sponsor shares is designed to address that criticism directly, and is a good sign for investors.
“When people talk with SPACs, the promote tends to be the elephant in the room,” says Andrew McKnight, CEO of Fortress Value and a managing partner at Fortress. “We wanted to get rid of that, and show that we really do believe in this asset.”
MP Materials’ current owners are also rolling over their entire stakes into the combined company rather than using it as a chance to cash out, another promising signal for investors.
Fortress Value stock spiked 10% on Wednesday after the deal announcement, but fell back slightly on Thursday and closed on Friday at $10.93. Shares rose 3.6% to $11.32 on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up less than 0.1% and the S&P 500 gained 0.8%.
<<<
MP Materials - >>> Rare earth materials producer MP Materials to be listed via merger with blank-check company Fortress Value Acquisition
MarketWatch
July 15, 2020
By Ciara Linnane
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/rare-earth-materials-producer-mp-materials-to-be-listed-via-merger-with-blank-check-company-fortress-value-acquisition-2020-07-15?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo
Rare earth materials producer MP Materials has agreed to merge with special purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC) Fortress Value Acquisition Corp. FVAC, -2.95% to become a New York Stock Exchange listed company. MP Materials, which produces rare earth materials used in electric cars, wind turbines, defense systems and other technologies, will have a post-transaction equity value of about $1.5 billion and will have $500 million in cash to fund growth. The company's current owners, JHL Capital Group and QVT Financial, will roll 100% of their equity holdings into the combined company. A SPAC, or blank-check company, is one that has no defined business until it acquires one or more. The vehicle has become a popular way for companies to go public without the burden of a full initial public offering. "We believe MP Materials is a compelling opportunity to invest in an irreplaceable, world-class asset at a point in time when demand from electric vehicles, wind turbines, and other technologies is hitting an inflection point, and while the need to find a reliable and resilient source for rare earths is crucial for the U.S. and global supply chain," said FVAC CEO Drew McKnight, who will serve on the new company's board. Most rare earth production is sourced from China. The Mountain Pass, Calif.-based MP Materials is expected to generate more than $100 million revenue in 2020. Proceeds of the deal will be used to fund a plan to retrofit and fully recommission its refining facilities and to pursue downstream opportunities in the magnetic industry. Shares soared 26% in premarket trade.
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Niocorp - >>> U.S. House of Representatives Approves Defense Bill That Highlights Growing Urgency for the U.S. to Produce More of its Own Critical Minerals, Including Niobium
MarketWatch
July 23, 2020
https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/us-house-of-representatives-approves-defense-bill-that-highlights-growing-urgency-for-the-us-to-produce-more-of-its-own-critical-minerals-including-niobium-2020-07-23?siteid=bigcharts&dist=bigcharts&tesla=y
CENTENNIAL, Colo., July 23, 2020 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- CENTENNIAL, Colo., July 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NioCorp Developments Ltd. ("NioCorp" or the "Company") (TSX: NB; OTCQX: NIOBF) applauds the U.S. House of Representatives for including in its Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act ("FY21 NDAA") legislative provisions aimed at highlighting the growing urgency for the U.S. to produce more of its own critical minerals, including niobium.
The House passed its version of the FY21 NDAA in a 295-125 bipartisan vote on Tuesday. The bill contains provisions highlighting the need to establish a domestic production capacity of niobium materials, as well as language supporting domestic production capacity of rare earth elements, which includes scandium. Both niobium and scandium were designated by the U.S. government as "Critical Minerals" in 2018, and NioCorp plans to produce niobium, scandium, and titanium at its Elk Creek Superalloy Materials Project (the "Elk Creek Project") in Nebraska once project financing is secured and the Elk Creek Project is operational.
"NioCorp is pleased to see the U.S. House adopt this bipartisan call for efforts to strengthen critical minerals supply chains," said Mark A. Smith, CEO and Executive Chairman of NioCorp. "In particular, the House bill specifically highlights the need to establish a secure domestic supply chain for niobium oxide. While our Elk Creek Project does not plan to initially produce high-purity niobium oxide materials, this initiative by Congress does shine a brighter light on the strategic importance of niobium in general. That is helpful to the Elk Creek Project, given that we intend to be the first to mine and process niobium in the U.S."
The full U.S. Senate is currently debating its version of the FY21 NDAA, which was passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee in June. Assuming both bills get approved, they will go to a House-Senate conference committee where differences between the two versions are expected to be resolved. A final compromise measure is then presented to each chamber for a vote. A final bill is then sent to the President for his signature or veto. An NDAA bill has been enacted into law every year for the past 59 years.
Legislative language related to critical minerals production in the House bill includes the following provisions:
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The bill highlights the need to establish a U.S. production capacity for niobium oxides, which are used in the production of niobium metal and in optical and electronics applications. In Title VIII of the Committee Report to accompany the bill (H.R. 6395), passed by the House Armed Services Committee ("HASC") (which can be seen here), in a section entitled "Secure Supply Chain for Niobium," the Committee directed the following actions be taken by the U.S. Department of Defense ("DoD") on niobium oxides: "Niobium oxides are important for defense and commercial applications. Recognizing this, the Department of Interior deemed niobium as one of 35 critical minerals vulnerable to supply chain disruption, the 'absence of which would have significant consequences for our economy and our national security.' The U.S. imports niobium from nations subject to political pressures and instability, which creates risk for supply chain disruption. "Accordingly, the committee directs the Secretary of Defense to brief the House Committee on Armed Services by February 15, 2021 detailing the actions necessary in order to establish a domestic production capacity for niobium oxides. The Secretary should consider leveraging established critical mineral supply chains, including niobium's twin element tantalum, to provide needed supply chain security."
In the Committee Report, the HASC further highlighted the strategic importance of niobium, the rare earth elements (which include scandium) and other critical minerals. It directed the DoD to report on … "… the state of the domestic supply chain, economic importance, risks associated, and availability of rare earth metals, including tungsten, neodymium iron boron magnets, niobium, indium, gallium, germanium, and tin. The assessment shall evaluate the need to stockpile these elements along with others the Department identifies due to their critical role for national security and sourcing from foreign entities." the state of the domestic supply chain, economic importance, risks associated, and availability of rare earth metals, including tungsten, neodymium iron boron magnets, niobium, indium, gallium, germanium, and tin. The assessment shall evaluate the need to stockpile these elements along with others the Department identifies due to their critical role for national security and sourcing from foreign entities."
Finally, the HASC Committee report also included a directive to the DoD to seek to acquire rare earth materials (which includes scandium) from domestic production sources first: Section 824—Preference for Sourcing Rare Earth Materials from the National Technology and Industrial Base. This section would require the Secretary of Defense, to the maximum extent possible, to acquire materials that are determined to be strategic and critical materials required to meet the defense industrial, and essential civilian needs of the United States first from sources located within the United States and then from sources located in the national technology and industrial base, as defined in section 2500 of title 10, United States Code.
Nations included in the National Technology and Industrial Base are the UK, Northern Ireland, Canada, and Australia.
@NioCorp $NB $NIOBF #Niobium #Scandium #ElkCreek #MarkSmith #NDAA #Congress #criticalminerals
For More Information:
Contact Jim Sims, VP of External Affairs, NioCorp Developments Ltd., 720-639-4650, jim.sims@niocorp.com
About NioCorp
NioCorp is developing a superalloy materials project in Southeast Nebraska that will produce Niobium, Scandium, and Titanium. Niobium is used to produce superalloys as well as High Strength, Low Alloy ("HSLA") steel, which is a lighter, stronger steel used in automotive, structural, and pipeline applications. Scandium is a superalloy material that can be combined with Aluminum to make alloys with increased strength and improved corrosion resistance. Scandium also is a critical component of advanced solid oxide fuel cells. Titanium is used in various superalloys and is a key component of pigments used in paper, paint and plastics and is also used for aerospace applications, armor and medical implants.
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MP Materials - >>> As US seeks production, sole US rare earth miner goes public
AP
7-14-20
https://apnews.com/05497ddda9174dd5e113ee49701626b4
The sole miner of rare earths in the U.S. is becoming a public company amid elevated trade tensions with China, the dominant global supplier of the material used in everything from computers to cars.
MP Materials, which runs a mine and processing facility in Mountain Pass, Calif., near the border of Nevada, will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange in a deal with the blank-check company Fortress Value Acquisition Corp.
The U.S. has pushed for increased production and the Pentagon began funding development of the Mountain Pass facility earlier this year, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“This business combination and becoming a public company is a key milestone in MP Materials’ mission to restore the full rare earth supply chain to the United States of America," said James Litinsky, the head of the Chicago hedge fund JHL Capital group.
Litinsky will become chairman and CEO of MP Materials.
The Journal reported in April that Litinsky first invested in Mountain Pass believing that the trade-standoff with China would make rare earths more valuable.
“These supply-chain issues are now front and center,” Mr. Litinsky said in a prepared statement Wednesday. While the U.S. is now grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, “the industrial policy is just as much of a long-term crisis,” he said.
MP Materials can produce refined neodymium-praseodymium, a rare earth material used in magnets that help power electric vehicles, wind turbines, robotics, drones and defense systems.
China currently controls more than 80% of that market. Labor costs and lower environmental standards has led to a flourishing rare earths industry there.
In 2018 China produced some 120,000 metric tons of rare earths, while the U.S. produced 15,000 metric tons, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Mountain Pass was once the top global supplier of rare earth minerals, but China began taking over the market in the 1990s as demand surged with the emergence of new technologies like smart phones.
Mining at Mountain pass was on and off until it closed in 2015 under bankruptcy. It resumed production in 2017 after it was acquired by a group led by Litinsky's JHL Capital Group.
Blank-check companies like Fortress Value are created solely to find companies to invest in. They raise funds by going public themselves, and then plowing that money into what they see as a promising venture.
MP Materials will have an equity value of approximately $1.5 billion when the deal closes in the fourth quarter. Net proceeds raised from the deal will be used to retrofit and fully recommission the Mountain Pass facility.
MP Materials Corp. will be listed under the ticker symbol “MP."
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>>> As Chinese rare earths’ stock prices rally, pressure rises for the rest of the world
InvestorIntel
MATTHEW BOHLSEN
JUNE 08, 2020
https://investorintel.com/sectors/technology-metals/technology-metals-intel/chinese-rare-earths-stock-prices-rally-pressure-mounts-rest-world/
Rising US-China tension has resulted in some rare earths’ stock prices rising sharply, particularly those in China. Given the recent US moves to introduce critical materials legislation it seems likely that the non-Chinese rare earth stocks will also rally strongly this year, particularly if the new bills and financial support are passed.Let’s start with a recap of the recent US support highlights for rare earths:
May 18, 2018 – The US declared a list of 35 critical materials. A large part of the list includes rare earths.
May 2, 2019 – U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and others submitted the American Mineral Security Act
In mid May, 2020, Senator Ted Cruz submitted the Onshoring Rare Earths Act – the ‘ORE Act’
On May 28, 2020 US Representative Michael Waltz submitted the American Critical Mineral Exploration and Innovation Act of 2020
The ORE Act focuses on six critical materials – Rare earths, scandium, lithium, cobalt, graphite, and manganese. The Critical Mineral Exploration and Innovation Act directs the U.S.G.S. to complete updated resource assessments for each critical mineral. It has been reported that there will be a focus on rare earths and other so-called strategic minerals.
Then just last week rare earths expert and Technology Metals Show host Jack Lifton stated exclusively to InvestorIntel: “The US Defense Department has announced last week that it will seek $1.7 billion for rare earths purchases in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act that means the budget for fiscal 2021. In addition they will ask for another $300 million (a total of $2 billion), for rare earths for specialized weapons which they name as hypersonic missiles…”
Given all of the above proposed support to the rare earths sector, it is abundantly clear that the US is now finally moving rapidly to secure critical rare earths supply, particularly from US deposits, where possible. Current rare earths producers and listed rare earths stocks stand to be beneficiaries. Especially if they have US rare earths projects, but quite likely any non-Chinese rare earth juniors that can achieve funding and production should find very strong western demand for their products. Most of the western world is now looking to diversify their supply chains especially after the trade war and COVID-19 problems of the past 2 years.Some rare earth miners with US projects include:
MP Materials (private)
Rare Element Resources Ltd. (OTCQB: REEMF)
Texas Mineral Resources Corp. (OTCQB: TMRC)
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSXV: UCU | OTCQX: UURAF)
Some miners with US rare earth processing potential include:
Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE: UUUU | TSX: EFR) recently stated their White Mesa Mill in the USA could be used in future for rare earths processing.
Lynas Corporation (ASX: LYC) has received US support for a planned US rare earths processing facility.
Peak Resources (ASX: PEK) plan to have a US rare earths processing facility.
Some rare earth miners with Canadian projects include:
Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. (TSX: AVL | OTCQB: AVLNF)
Appia Energy Corp. (CSE: API | OTCQB: APAAF)
Search Minerals Inc. (TSXV: SMY)
Some rare earth miners with Australian projects include:
Alkane Resources Ltd. (ASX: ALK | OTCQX: ALKEF)
Scandium International Mining Corp. (TSX: SCY)
Rare earths are vital ingredients for modern technology
Closing remarks
The massive recent news of two new rare earth/critical materials related Acts and a proposed “US$2 billion towards rare earths in 2021”, appears to have been somewhat missed by the market. The Chinese rare earths stocks have already bounced leaving the potential rest of the world rare earth miners to play catch up.News flow in future months should continue to be extremely promising for the rare earths sector following on from the tremendous news from the last few weeks.Investors should not wait too long as any further increased US-China tensions, threats of China supply loss, or passing of rare earths related Bills, will likely send non-Chinese rare earth miners stock prices higher.
“The massive recent news of two new rare earth/critical materials related Acts and a proposed “US$2 billion towards rare earths in 2021”, appears to have been somewhat missed by the market. The Chinese rare earths stocks have already bounced leaving the potential rest of the world rare earth miners to play catch up.”
Thanks for the article. My question is has the market missed the ‘…massive recent news…’ or does Mr. Market know something we do not seem to want to confront? Seems we are now very much waiting to see how the US RE moves will or will not play out; moves that likely will either trigger a new RE sector energy or leave us floundering in the past decade malaise.
In fact, the emergence of politics in these recent held up US RE awards for Lynas/BL and MP have, IMHO, brought in investor fear for regarding the emergence of such a new (non-China) chain? The question is will this issue now get bogged down in Republican political competition (e.g., Cruz, Enzi and Barasso, etc), which will mean probably nothing actionable before the end of 2020? Further, this does not even bring in Democrat opposition to both homeland mining and processing on dogmatic principle (never mind should they win the Presidency in 2020).
There is much more IMO to add to the question of global RE sector advancement beyond who has the best project or technology out there. Maybe, Mr. Market is really telling us something?
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>>> U.S. Launches Tool to Stake Claim to World’s Rare Earth Minerals
Bloomberg
By Danielle Bochove
March 1, 2020
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-01/u-s-launches-tool-to-stake-claim-to-world-s-rare-earth-minerals?srnd=premium
State Department hopes tool to boost access for U.S. investors
Coronavirus seen raising U.S. focus on secure supply chains
In a high-tech twist on hammering pickets into the ground, the U.S. State Department has launched an online tool aimed at staking America’s claim to many of the world’s rare-earth minerals.
The U.S. has become increasingly concerned about securing a stable supply of critical minerals used in car batteries, solar panels and wind turbines. Many of those resources are located in emerging markets that may be seen as too risky by American investors looking for “best-in-class” standards.
That raises the potential for “two really bad outcomes,” Francis Fannon, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for energy resources, said in an interview. “Either the world will not get the minerals it needs in order to fuel energy transition technologies,” or “that investment would only come from those who are less concerned about governance issues, transparency, corruption, environmental standards and best practices.”
The new initiative is designed to address these problems by giving countries with nascent resource industries an online “toolkit” to help them develop assets in a way that will allow them to meet the standards of U.S. investors.
Fannon made the comments ahead of the annual convention of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada in Toronto, at which the online toolkit is being launched.
By 2050, as much as 24% of the world’s electricity will be used to power electric cars, and solar and wind energy will provide almost half the world’s electricity, BloombergNEF predicts. Many of the minerals required for decarbonization are used in other high-demand products, including smartphones. As just one example, BNEF forecasts nickel demand from lithium-ion batteries alone will grow 15.6 times between 2018 and 2030.
READ MORE: Critical Metals: Demand Uncertainty and Supply Anxiety
China, which already produces roughly 70% of the world’s rare earth minerals, supplied about 80% of America’s rare earth imports in the three years ended 2018, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. State-owned Chinese companies have also been active buying up critical mineral deposits outside the country.
“Africa is a huge continent for a lot of these critical minerals and the Chinese have been making heavy advances in that area, offering support and offering investment,” Colin Hamilton, managing director of commodities research at BMO Capital Markets, said last week on the sidelines of a conference in Florida. Meanwhile, coronavirus has “crystallized” America’s determination to diversify its supply chain of key materials and products, he said.
Last year, the State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources launched an international partnership, the Energy Resources Governance Initiative, to encourage responsible mining of key minerals.
The website is the latest part of that initiative. Founding member countries with track records for responsible development, including Canada, will share strategies and tips with other nations on project development, production and stewardship, Fannon said. The website includes specific information such as how to create data management systems to quantify a mineral resource, and complex “decision trees” to weigh the costs and benefits of different approaches.
In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to protect America from supply disruptions in critical minerals, saying such disruptions represent “a strategic vulnerability” to the country’s security and prosperity. ERGI has identified 17 rare earth elements and 14 minerals, including copper, lithium and uranium, that are seen as essential for renewable energy equipment and infrastructure.
At the height of the trade war between the two countries, China suggested it could restrict the export of some rare earth minerals. Those concerns have eased with the signing of a phase-one trade deal, but Trump remains determined to ramp up domestic production and form partnerships with other countries to secure supply. American production rose 44% last year.
READ MORE: U.S. Drones Scour for Rare Earths to Break China Addiction
“We know that reliance on one country for anything, or any one source, exposes all customers to a risky supply chain, if there were a supply disruption of any type,” Fannon said. “The Earth’s crust is blessed with good rocks everywhere. It’s what’s above the ground that will help determine whether a U.S. firm -- a best-in-class company -- will invest in that country.”
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>>> NioCorp Developments Ltd. (NIOBF) engages in the exploration and development of mineral deposits in North America. It owns and develops the Elk Creek niobium/scandium/titanium project located in Southeastern Nebraska. The company was formerly known as Quantum Rare Earth Developments Corp. and changed its name to NioCorp Developments Ltd. in March 2013. NioCorp Developments Ltd. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Centennial, Colorado. <<<
>>> Rare Earth Metal ETF to Surge on Chinese Export Ban
Zacks
Sweta Killa
May 29, 2019
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rare-earth-metal-etf-surge-154503052.html
Amid worsening trade dispute, media reports suggest that China is considering restricting rare-earth exports to the United States as a countermeasure against the ban on telecom giant Huawei. Chinese president Xi’s visit to a rare earths facility in Ganzhou, Jiangxi province last week triggered speculation that China could make the minerals more expensive or unavailable if the trade war continues.
China exports about 80% of rare earths, which is critical in defense, energy, electronics and automobile sectors, to the United States. Beijing might use its dominant position as a supplier of the commodities for leverage in the trade war. Rare earth minerals are a group of 17 elements used in production in a huge number of sectors, from consumer electronics to national defense.
As part of the trade war so far, Chinese Chinese rare-earth exports have been spared from tariffs by the United States, which has decided not to impose import duties on those and some other critical minerals from China. However, Beijing is expected to implement tariffs increase on imports of U.S. rare-earth metal ores from 10% to 25% from Jun 1, making it less cheap to process the material in China
This is not the first time when Beijing is weaponizing its dominance in the rare earth market. It had adopted the same tactics in 2010 against Japan by halting shipments of rare earths to its rival, disrupting supply lines for major manufacturers like Toyota and Panasonic.
Market Impact
Since China has the monopoly over rare earths, the news sent rare-earth producers’ stocks higher in today’s trading session. In China, shares of China Rare Earth Holdings Ltd increased more than 30% in early trade while shares of JL Mag Rare-Earth skyrocketed around 10%. Innuovo Technology jumped 10% and China Northern rose 8.7%. Lynas in Australia — one of the few rare earth miners outside of China — also saw its shares surged more than 15% at the time of writing.
The smooth trading is expected to continue in the ETF space targeting the rare earth minerals - VanEck Vectors Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF REMX.
REMX in Focus
It offers exposure to companies engaged in producing, refining, and recycling of rare earth and strategic metals and minerals. The ETF follows the MVIS Global Rare Earth/Strategic Metals Index, holding 20 stocks in its basket. It is heavily concentrated on the top 10 companies, which account for nearly 63.2% of the assets. China Northern Rare Earth Group, Tronox Holdings and China Molybdenum Co are the top three holdings making up for more than 7% share each. Other securities hold no more than 6.76% of total assets.
From a country look, Chinese firms dominate the portfolio with 26.3 share, closely followed by Australia (24.9%) and the United States (11.3%).
REMX is the only ETF targeting the pure rare earth metal space having AUM of $194.5 million and average daily volume of 188,000 shares. The product charges 59 bps in annual fees and has gained 6.8% in the year-to-date timeframe.
Bottom Line
The positive news on rare earth metal could provide some lift to the ETF at least in the near term.
Since the fund’s valuation seems reasonable after falling over 37.1% in the trailing one-year period, this could be the time to take a closer look at REMX for a new way to play commodity mining that promises a bright future.
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>>> Obscure Chinese Company Buys Vast Stock of Metals U.S. Labels ‘Critical’ to Industry
Bloomberg
By Mark Burton and Jack Farchy
January 23, 2020
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-23/chinese-company-swoops-on-giant-stock-of-metals-coveted-by-trump?srnd=premium
Vital Materials acquires stockpile from defunct Fanya bourse
Purchases end uncertainty over fate of impounded metals
Indium is found in flat-screen TVs and cellphones the world over.
A little-known Chinese company has bought up a vast stockpile of metals that are indispensable to the electronics industry, including enough indium to satisfy six years of global demand of the material found in flat-screen TVs and cellphones the world over.
Vital Materials Co.’s $600 million swoop to acquire the stockpile in a government auction is the culmination of a wild tale of speculation and market manipulation in a small, but strategically important corner of the metals markets.
Almost everything bought by Vital Materials is on the list of minerals classified as “critical” by the U.S. two years ago as part of President Donald Trump’s vow to reduce America’s foreign dependence. While many of the metals are found in small quantities at mines around the world, China has come to dominate in transforming them into high-purity products needed in advanced manufacturing.
Outside of the metals markets, indium’s importance largely escaped attention until the early 2010s, when thousands of investors in China caught on to its significance and bought huge volumes on a trading platform, called the Fanya Metal Exchange.
Infinite Indium
The Fanya stockpile is more than ten times larger than annual output in top producer China
The back story of Fanya dates back to 2011, when the exchange was launched with a promise of fixed high-yield income. The investment was backed by inventories of strategic metals like indium, gallium and germanium, which help power high-tech products from night-vision goggles to computer chips.
But when the bourse collapsed amid suspicions of fraud in 2015, investors were left facing multibillion-dollar losses, according to media reports. Authorities impounded the colossal volumes of indium and other so-called minor metals that had accumulated on the bourse.
The result was a years-long pall over the small industry as traders questioned whether the stockpiles would eventually flood back into the market.
The collapse of the bourse in 2015 sent indium prices into a tailspin
Now, with indium prices languishing at the lowest in more than a decade, China’s Vital Materials has paid more than $600 million to acquire the stockpile at auction. The deal removes the surplus of inventory from the market and helps draw a line under one of the biggest scandals to hit China’s metals industry.
“The fear that the Fanya stocks might flood into the market and destroy the already very delicate balance of supply and demand has been overhanging onto the market,” Vicky Zeng, Vital’s global vice president for sourcing, said in a statement. “With all these metals being moved to Vital, people can be relieved as all the metals will be consumed and leveraged internally.”
The move cements Vital’s position as a powerful force in niche markets as China and the U.S. focus on securing raw materials that are critical to their technological and military primacy.
While it’s little known outside China, the company employs more than 4,000 people across eight sites in the country and several overseas plants. It’s capable of using up the entire stockpile internally over time and is likely to complete further acquisitions soon that will further underpin its growth, Zeng said by phone.
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Name | Symbol | % Assets |
---|---|---|
Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co Ltd | 603799 | 8.56% |
Ganfeng Lithium Co Ltd | 01772 | 6.93% |
Pilbara Minerals Ltd | PLS.AX | 6.83% |
China Molybdenum Co Ltd Class A | 603993 | 6.77% |
China Northern Rare Earth (Group) High-Tech Co Ltd | 600111 | 6.19% |
Lynas Corp Ltd | LYC.AX | 5.72% |
Livent Corp | LTHM | 5.63% |
Galaxy Resources Ltd | GXY.AX | 5.36% |
Orocobre Ltd | ORE.AX | 5.02% |
Xiamen Tungsten Co Ltd | 600549 | 4.91% |
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