The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Ucore Rare Metals Inc. believes the Biden administration's newly announced strategy to strengthen America's supply chains aligns with its own vision to disrupt China's dominance of the rare earth elements supply chain in the United States. "We are very pleased with the White House's concern for REEs and its efforts to spur the domestic production of critical materials," said Ucore Rare Metals Chairman and CEO Pat Ryan. Based on the feedback from a 100-day American supply...
From a world-class graphite deposit in the Northwest to rare earths on the Southeast Panhandle, Alaska has the potential to offer a sustainable and secure supply to meet the coming explosive demand for the minerals and metals crucial to the renewable energy and electric vehicle sectors in North America and around the globe. International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group, estimates that this shift to low-carbon energy and electric mobility will create nearly...
The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority unanimously passed a resolution authorizing the formalization of a preliminary due-diligence process for a potential US$3 million to US$5 million investment for the development and commercial-scale operation of the rare earths separation facility Ucore Rare Metals Inc. plans to build near the Southeast Alaska port town of Ketchikan. Development of this Alaska Strategic Metals Complex, or Alaska SMC, is the first step towar...
Cans, cups, roofs, and foil hats are likely the first things that come to mind when thinking about tin – none of which conjure images of a metal that should be considered critical to a modern country like the United States. According to a study carried out by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, however, tin is the metal expected that be most impacted by new technologies. Commissioned by Rio Tinto, the MIT study found that tin beat out more likely technology metals candidate...
Wind turbines, solar panels, and the batteries that store the electricity these renewable energy sources generate are creating new demands for an array of minerals and metals, many of which are not mined in the United States. Recognizing that mines lie at the front end of America's expanding renewable energy supply chains, federal officials have determined that critical mining projects must be eligible for Fast-41, a program established in 2015 to improve the timeliness,...
Niobium and tantalum are nearly identical critical mineral twins with unique personalities that takes them on separate career paths in the defense, energy, high-tech and medical sectors. "The leading use of niobium is in the production of high-strength steel alloys used in pipelines, transportation infrastructure, and structural applications," the United State Geological Survey penned in a 2018 report on the indispensable twins. "Electronic capacitors are the leading use of...
Due to their vital importance to American manufacturing and the fact that 100% of U.S. supply comes from overseas, primarily China, rare earth elements top the list of minerals and metals deemed critical to the United States. When the U.S. Geological Survey plugged in 52 critical mineral commodities into a recently developed supply risk tool, six rare earth elements – dysprosium (No. 1), yttrium (No. 2), neodymium (No. 3), lanthanum (No. 5), cerium (No. 6) and praseodymium (...
With it becoming increasingly apparent that Joe Biden will be confirmed as the 46th President of the United States, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski believes the coming years will be "interesting times" for the state's resource sectors. "There is near certainty that he is going to be taking office on Jan. 20, 2021," Alaska's senior senator said, referring to Biden, during the Resource Development Council for Alaska annual convention. "If he follows through on some of his campaign...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc., which has set a plan in motion to begin producing rare earth elements in Alaska by 2023, has shipped more than 1.5 metric tons of material from its Bokan Mountain project to Innovation Metal Corp.'s RapidSX facility in Ontario for concentration and REE separation testing. Ucore acquired Innovation Metals earlier this year and is operating the company as a subsidiary to further advance RapidSX technology for the separation and purification of rare earth...
After 13 years as the top executive at Ucore Rare Metals Inc., Jim McKenzie is stepping down from his role as president and CEO of the rare earth exploration and technology company to pursue other business interests. Under McKenzie's leadership, Ucore established a rare earths deposit at its Bokan Mountain project in Southeast Alaska and has pursued new technologies to separate the rare earths, a technology that is key to establishing a REE sector in North America. "Building a...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. Feb. 10 announced that the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) has reaffirmed its interest in funding the Alaska Strategic Metals Complex, a rare earth element separation facility that Ucore Rare Metals is planning to develop near Ketchikan, Alaska, and an eventual mine at the nearby Bokan Mountain REE project. Created by the Alaska Legislature in 1967, AIDEA is the development finance arm of the state of Alaska. This authority...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. Feb. 6 said it is taking a closer look at the mine portion of its mine-to-metal-to-market "M3" strategy for its Bokan-Dotson Ridge rare earth project in Southeast Alaska. Introduced by Ucore in September, M3 includes three initiatives to meet the needs of an independent rare earth supply chain in the United States – advancing its Bokan-Dotson Ridge to shovel-ready status; developing an associated facility to separate the rare earths found at Bokan i...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. Dec. 23 announced that it is collaborating with an Ohio-based advanced material manufacturer to respond to an open request from the Pentagon for a strategic assessment of the domestic heavy rare earth element (HREE) market, in conjunction with an engineering evaluation of the viability of HREE separation capabilities at various sites within the United States. Materion Corp., Ucore's new Ohio-based colleague, is an advanced materials supplier with a...
From helmet mounted radios to laser guided missiles, rare earth elements (REE) are an essential ingredient to the advanced hardware used by the U.S. military. These high-tech metals, however, are not produced in America, forcing the Pentagon to depend primarily on China for its supply. As part of a joint armed forces effort to establish a domestic source of rare earths, the U.S. Army is looking to invest in the processing facilities needed to ensure a reliable supply of these...
An abnormally long fall has allowed the Alaska mining industry to extend seasonal work well into mid-October, creating a lot of new information about project work conducted around the state. Exploration efforts, in particular, benefitted from this additional field time. Based on information available to date, 2019 exploration expenditures are expected to be in the $135-140 million range, well ahead of the $120-125 million exploration spending tracked for 2018. In addition,...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. has added two prominent technical advisors to a team it has pulled together to design a heavy rare earth element solvent extraction plant to be developed in Southeast Alaska. These advisors include SGS Canada, a testing and certification firm that has invested significantly in solvent extraction design and testing facilities, which includes an SX pilot plant at its facility in Lakefield, Ontario. Ucore said this pilot plant has the capacity to...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. Oct. 15 announced that 38,500 metric tons of critical minerals have been added to the resource for its Bokan Dotson-Ridge rare earth project in Southeast Alaska. The new metals added as co-products to the REEs already defined at Bokan include niobium, zirconium, beryllium, hafnium, titanium and vanadium. Using a cut-off grade of 0.4 percent for the rare earths, the Bokan deposit hosts 4.79 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 460 parts per...
Alaska Gov. Michael Dunleavy and Alaska's entire delegation in Washington D.C. welcomed the Trump administration's plan to exempt the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 Roadless Rule, which would lift impediments to forestry, mining and other activities across Southeast Alaska. "Today's announcement on the roadless rule is further proof that Alaska's economic outlook is looking brighter every day," Dunleavy said on the U.S. Forest Service Oct. 15 announcement that it is...
In a recent letter to the White House, Alaska Governor Michael Dunleavy has requested that U.S. President Donald Trump consider designating the Graphite Creek mine project and associated processing facility as a high-priority infrastructure project under Executive Order 13766, signed by Trump shortly after he took office in 2017. "Graphite Creek is the largest deposit of graphite in the nation, and would be a superior domestic supply of this critical mineral, which is...
If you have watched the metals markets over the last month, you know why Alaska's mineral industry has surged, stalled, swerved, swooped, slowed, shelved and stuttered, sometimes all at the same time! Gold has gone above US$1,500 per ounce; copper pundits are predicting an increasingly dour future; zinc markets are looking to dive below $1.00 per pound; tin markets have marched strongly upward due to supply disruptions; and silver bulls are calling for annual worldwide...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. Sept. 23 reported two developments that could bolster the economics of a mine at Bokan-Dotson Ridge and expedite the permitting of this potential rare earth operation in Southeast Alaska. The potential boost in economics comes from a recent study that beryllium, zirconium, niobium, and hafnium could be valuable by-products to mining the rare earth elements at Bokan Mountain. All four of these metals are on the U.S. Geological Survey list of minerals cons...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. has unveiled a three-tier strategy for delivering a non-Chinese source of rare earth elements to North American markets from its Bokan Mountain project in Alaska. Called M3, for mines, metals and markets, Ucore's plan to meet the needs of an independent rare earth supply chain in the United States includes three initiatives: advancing its Bokan-Dotson Ridge rare earths project in Southeast Alaska to shovel-ready status; developing an associated facility...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. Aug. 29 reported that Alaska Gov. Michael Dunleavy has asked the White House to designate Bokan-Dotson Ridge rare earth project as a high priority infrastructure project, which would expedite the permitting process for this potential critical metals mine in Southeast Alaska. "The state of Alaska understands the critical nature of a secure supply chain for rare earth minerals in the United States. We are seeking your support to have this Alaskan rare...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. Aug. 22 announce that that it met with senators Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) in separate visits to Ketchikan, Alaska, to discuss Ucore's promise as a secure domestic supply source for rare earth elements crucial to U.S. defense, manufacturing, and industrial base needs. "We're delighted to be working with two influential federal senators, both of whom recognize the importance of secure domestic supply chains for critical...
With the issuance of five presidential determinations related to the domestic production of rare earth metals and magnets, President Donald Trump is making it clear the White House sees this group of 17 technology elements as essential to the security of the United States. In five memos sent to the secretary of defense on July 22, Trump made an official determination under Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 that domestic production, separation and manufacturing...
