The US Department of Defense is providing Canadian Ucore Rare Metalswith 18.4 million US dollars to advance its RapidSX technology for separating rare earth elements towards full operation!
This includes both the expansion of the work already underway in collaboration with the US Department of Defense as part of a demonstration project, for which Ucore has already been provided with USD 4 million, as well as the construction and commissioning of a commercial-scale RapidSX production module and the technology transfer in the field of systems engineering from Ucore’s Canadian demonstration plant to the commercial plant already under construction in the United States (Louisiana).
First production planned for the second half of 2026
The first phase of work on the prototype project at Ucore’s demonstration facility in Kingston, Ontario will be completed shortly, allowing the now-funded second phase to commence, which is intended to further scale up and commercialise Ucore’s RapidSX technology for the rare earth element refinery under construction at the Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex (SMC) in Alexandria, Louisiana. This will be accomplished by installing a commercial-scale, complete RapidSX machine that will be capable of demonstrating commercial-scale production of Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb and/or Dy. Incidentally, that would be six of the seven rare earth elements that the People’s Republic of China has placed on its export license restriction list…
In addition, a systems engineering approach will be pursued to facilitate the transfer of knowledge of the innovative RapidSX™ technology from Kingston to Louisiana. Capacity will then be built at the SMC to process hundreds of tons of heavy and/or light Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) using the same RapidSX technology platform.
Once this project is successfully completed, it is expected that Ucore will manufacture additional RapidSX machines to complete the planned first phase of the project to build TREO processing machines with a capacity of 2,000 tons per year!
Simultaneous design and production is made possible, the company says, by the unique modular and adaptable features of the RapidSX technology platform, coordinated with smart sourcing and deployment of investment capital.
Ucore CEO Pat Ryan explained: “Ucore’s business model is based on 1) collaborating with a range of like-minded commercial and government partners from upstream and downstream sectors and 2) implementing the next logical leap in commercial technology for critical metal separation resulting from Western innovation. Ucore is very grateful to the US Department of Defense for this opportunity and the potential future possibilities that have now led to this specific expansion project for full-scale production.”
Crucial step in developing secure, western rare earth supply chains
According to Mr. Ryan, this funding agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense is not only a critical step for his company on the path to commercialisation of RapidSX, but also for the advancement of the Western rare earth supply chain and North America’s security of supply of critical metals that cannot exist without globally competitive processing.
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