While it certainly seems CCTI is late to the REE party, it's important to remember that other methods focus either on recovering REEs from coal ash or maximizing rare earth extraction at the expense of the thermal coal, presumably destroying it in the process.
If modifications to the test plant prove successful, rare earth minerals will be extracted as a byproduct of upgrading the coal using Pristine technologies. Since most of the coal remains intact, this process certainly won't extract all REMs, but it could be enough to significantly lower the cost of beneficiating the coal, especially in areas of the world with coals rich in rare earths. Some of the remaining REEs might be extracted later on from coal ash using other methods in development.
In other words, automated REM extraction could ensure commercial viability for Pristine-M dust-free black gold… err, clean coal. $$
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