Ucore Completes RapidSX™ Demo Plant Commission?ing – Begins US Department of Defense Demonstration Program
Ucore announces:
Completion of its third and final stage of Commercial Demonstration Plant (“Demo Plant”) commissioning procedures
Commencement of the US Department of Defense (“US-DoD”) demonstration program
Halifax, Nova Scotia (December 21, 2023) – Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSXV: UCU) (OTCQX: UURAF) (“Ucore” or the “Company”) announces the completion of its planned commissioning procedures for the Company’s RapidSX™ Commercial Demonstration Plant (“Demo Plant“) for the separation of heavy and light rare earth elements (“HREEs”, “LREEs”, or “REEs“). The Demo Plant is located within Ucore’s 5,000 square foot RapidSX™ Commercialization and Demonstration Facility (“CDF“) in Kingston, Ontario.
“Since early this year, the Company has been testing, adjusting, and optimizing its 52-Stage Demo Plant to meet its RapidSX™ commercialization and demonstration deployment objectives in Louisiana,” stated Mike Schrider, P.E., Ucore Vice President & Chief Operating Officer. “Ucore is very pleased to announce the completion of commissioning procedures with its third and final mixed REE chemical concentrate[ii] and the commencement of its US-DoD demonstration program. The objectives of this program are to establish a direct techno-economic comparison between conventional solvent extraction [CSX] and RapidSX™ for separating heavy and light rare earth elements and to establish RapidSX™ technology for commercial deployment in North America.”
The CDF facility is operated by Ucore’s commercialization partner, Kingston Process Metallurgy Inc. (“KPM“).
“KPM has been assisting in the development of RapidSX™ since right after Ucore acquired the technology in May of 2020,” stated Boyd Davis, Ph.D., Co-Principal of KPM. “We are very pleased to see the successful transition from the final LREE commissioning feed to the HREE demonstration feed with no operational upsets. The automated front-end leach facility has been commissioned, is running on spec, and matches the RapidSX™ throughput. During the final commissioning phase, we processed over one tonne of mixed rare earth feed in less than one week of run-time while hitting our product specification targets - it is rewarding when a technology matches and even exceeds expectations.”
KPM’s Project Leader, Jonathan Leung, M.Eng., added, “It is an exciting time for the team in Kingston. We are running 24/7 until the holidays and back at the same pace in the first week of January. All 52 stages of the Demo Plant are operational, and the mechanical and control systems have been fully tested and enhanced during commissioning. We are now focusing on the loading/scrubbing balance of the first heavy rare earth demonstration run, just like in any solvent extraction plant.”
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