A plant featuring proprietary computerised rare earth element (REE) separation technology currently being put through its paces at a demonstration site in Ontario, Canada, could eventually be run almost entirely by AI, analysts from Toronto investment firm Red Cloud Securities heard on a site visit.
Canadian venture exchange-listed microcap Ucore Rare Metals has reportedly successfully separated heavy and light REEs at the Kingston facility using its patent-pending RapidSX technology.
“We were impressed with the company’s progress to date and its commitment to establishing the first heavy REE separation facility in North America by 2025,” Red Cloud said in a report.
“We are of the view that Ucore should be successful in upsizing this demonstration plant to a commercial plant, when that time comes, and that its proprietary process should allow a quicker and cheaper way of extracting REEs from a variety of source materials.”
Ucore has received government funding from the US Department of Defense (DoD) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) for the demonstration.
Energy Fuels’ White Mesa uranium plant in Utah, USA, produces by-product light REEs, neodymium and praseodymium, for high-powered magnets but there are no commercial HREE separation facilities in North America. About 90% of all REEs are processed in China.
REEs are extracted using solvent extraction (SX) techniques and Ucore claims RapidSX can shorten processing times and lower operating costs.
“[Ucore’s] innovation and proprietary IP is in the mixing,” Red Cloud said.
“To begin the extraction process, REE concentrate – oxide or carbonate – is dissolved in acid to form an aqueous solution. The aqueous solution is then mixed with an organic solution for further processing.
“In conventional processes this mixing takes place in large, bulky units called mixer-settler units and could take up to weeks.
“[With] RapidSX technology Ucore has developed computerised column technology, whereby the aqueous and organic solutions are blended without the use of a traditional mixer-settler, leading to a more streamlined and cost-effective process.
“At the demo plant only three individuals were running the entire process: one lead that monitors all the information at a centralised monitoring station and two sample takers that take a sample every four hours to ensure that the process is running correctly.
“Management is of the view that with the use of machine learning and AI, this number could potentially be reduced to one individual during the commercial production stage.”
Ucore has a lease on a circa-81,000sq.ft industrial facility near Alexandra in Louisiana, USA, which it has earmarked for a US$65 million, first-phase production facility.
Red Cloud said the location was within trucking distance of the port of New Orleans.
“Focus is on getting the Louisiana SMC into production with phase one targeting 2000 tonnes per annum of total rare earth oxides [TREO], before looking to set up other SMCs in North America,” it said.
“Full ramp up to phase three in Louisiana is expected by 2027 targeting c7500tpa of TREO.”
Ucore could access US$10 million of DoD funding if it can hit certain milestones.
