Ucore Rare Metals Inc (UURAF)

[Tommy]

$UURAF - UCU.V - Ucore assessment looks good

http://proedgewire.com/rare-earth-press/ucore-assessment-looks-good/

December 4, 2012 (Source: Business Herald) — Ucore Rare Metals Inc.is moving closer to mining its rare earth property in Alaska.

The Bedford company is reporting strong results from a preliminary economic assessment of the Dotson Ridge zone of its Bokan Mountain property in southeast Alaska.

“The completion of this (assessment) is a key milestone in Ucore’s march to near-term (heavy rare earth element) production,” Jim McKenzie, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said in a recent news release.

Tetra Techof Vancouver determined in the assessment that the Dotson Ridge area of the Bokan property has a net present value of $577 million at a 10 per cent discount rate, with a 43 per cent internal rate of return.

Capital costs to mine the property, including the construction of a rare earth oxide separation plant, were pegged at $221 million.

The assessment estimated the mine would have an 11-year lifespan at a mining rate of 1,500 tonnes per day, with an average 81.6 per cent total rare earth recovery.

“In simple terms, the report says if we invest $221 million, we will return to our investors $95 million in profits every year for 11 years,” Mark MacDonald, Ucore’s vice-president of business development, said in an interview Monday.

“It’s a very compelling economic assessment.”

MacDonald calculated the $95-million annual profit figure by multiplying the $221-million capital investment and the 43 per cent return rate.

Rare earth metals are used in a wide range of modern technologies, including smartphones, electric cars and missile systems.

Ucore said a North American supply of rare earth metals, most of which now come from China, is strategically critical to the United States defence, clean energy, aerospace, computing and transportation sectors.

MacDonald said the company anticipates beginning mine construction in 2015, with production beginning late that year or early the next.

The operation is expected to employ 170 people.

The Bokan Mountain project is on Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island, about 140 kilometres northwest of Prince Rupert, B.C., and close to deepwater shipping facilities.

MacDonald said more work is being done to evaluate the extent of the rare earth metal resource on the property, which is also the subject of a U.S. military mineral and metallurgical study.

Ucore participated in the recent Alaska Strategic and Critical Minerals Summit sponsored by the State of Alaska and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Ken Collison, the company’s chief operating officer, told the summit that the Bokan deposit contained up to 40 per cent heavy earths, much higher that the two to three per cent found in typical deposits, said a Fairbanks Daily News-Miner report.

Ucore stock was trading Monday for 53 cents a share on the TSX Venture Exchange, unchanged from its previous close.

This entry was posted in Rare Earth & Critical Minerals Press and tagged Ucore Rare Metals Inc. by Asher Berube.