RapidSX Agreement Signed with US Rare Earth Development Company Ucore Rare Metals

TORONTO, Feb. 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hexagon Energy Materials Limited (“Hexagon” or the “Company”) (ASX:HXG) is pleased to announce the execution of a Technical Services Agreement (“TSA”) for test processing of customer material using the RapidSX rare-earth elements (“REEs”) separation technology. Innovation Metals Corp. (“IMC”) — Hexagon’s partner in the commercialization of RapidSX for REE separation¹ — has entered into the binding agreement with Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (“Ucore”) (TSXV:UCU) (OTCQX:UURAF)². The purpose of the TSA is to assess RapidSX for the separation of REE concentrate materials into high-purity REE oxides (“REOs”) from Ucore’s flagship Bokan-Dotson Ridge REE Project located in Alaska, USA, and/or other commercially available, U.S. allied-sourced, mixed REE concentrate sources currently under nearer-term consideration for potential utilization at the company’s planned Alaska Strategic Metals Complex  in the United States.

Hexagon’s management team in North America and Australia was instrumental in bringing the parties together and advancing the TSA, highlighting the Company’s contribution of marketing and commercial skills to the IMC-Hexagon joint venture entity to be named, American Innovation Metals LLC (“AIM”).

Hexagon’s Managing Director, Mike Rosenstreich commented “Ucore’s interest in and commitment to evaluating RapidSX is significant; they are a REE industry stalwart in the USA with an advanced project with US$145 million in designated financing from the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (“AIDEA”)³. Ucore plans to develop heavy and light REE downstream processing capabilities through its planned Alaska Strategic Metals Complex to produce separated high-purity REOs.”

“Ucore brings a tremendous amount of third-party validation to RapidSX, underscoring Hexagon’s focus on the commercialization of this important technology,” Mr. Rosenstreich explained. “Over the past several years, Ucore has evaluated a range of alternative REE-separation processes, resulting in the selection of solvent-extraction chemistry, which led to their interest in the proprietary RapidSX REE separation technology, offering significant CAPEX and OPEX savings compared to current conventional SX-based commercial REE separation. With RapidSX, existing REE producers and project developers can integrate the addition of downstream REE separation to produce REOs, thus significantly increasing margins, saleable products and most importantly — to effectively compete with Chinese operators.”