Medallion, Rare Earth Salts to produce REE products

2017-06-01 07:39 ET - News Release

Mr. Donald Lay reports
MEDALLION AND RARE EARTH SALTS AGREE TO PRODUCE RARE EARTH PRODUCTS
Medallion Resources Ltd. and Rare Earth Salts Separations and Refining LLC (RES), a leading materials technology company, have executed a non-exclusive commercial agreement to produce, market and share revenues from the sale of finished rare-earth products. The agreement contemplates Medallion producing and supplying its rare-earth concentrate to Rare Earth Salts for separation and refining into marketable rare-earth oxides. Medallion and RES anticipate initial production volumes of 500 tonnes per year of rare-earth oxides beginning in 2019 and growing over time to 3,000 tonnes per year. Certain commercial terms will be finalized prior to commercial production.

"We believe strongly that Medallion's byproduct monazite processing approach will allow for much-needed new production of rare-earth concentrate in North America. Using this concentrate and our low-cost separation technology, we can compete directly with China," said Dr. Joseph Brewer, chief executive officer of RES. "With Medallion as an additional feedstock partner we look to deliver meaningful quantities of rare-earth products to the market in the near term."

"Rare Earth Salts has developed novel technology for rare-earth separation to challenge solvent extraction, which is the current industry standard. By working together, we aim to provide an alternative source of rare-earth oxide products to the marketplace," said Don Lay, president and CEO of Medallion. "As both the technical and capital cost challenges of hard-rock rare-earth projects has become clear, Medallion's byproduct monazite model is resonating. We consider Rare Earth Salts to be a terrific partner to complete the value chain to saleable rare-earth products." Alastair Neill, RES director of business development, stated: "We believe that a monazite-derived concentrate can supply the highly valued, magnet-oriented rare earths currently driving market demand. This demand for high-powered and lightweight rare-earth permanent magnets has risen dramatically from their use in electric and hybrid vehicles, renewable power generation, robotics, military and other applications."

Market research firm Adamas Intelligence estimated the value of global annual rare-earth oxide demand for the production of rare-earth permanent magnets totalled $1.44-billion in 2016. Adamas forecasts an increase of demand for the magnet-oriented oxides of neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium to $6.07-billion by 2025, a compound annual growth rate of 17.4 per cent (source: Adamas Intelligence, Rare Earth Market Outlook: Supply, Demand and Pricing from 2016 through 2025).

About Medallion Resources Ltd.
Medallion Resources is developing an approach for low-cost, near-term, rare earth element (REE) production by exploiting monazite. Monazite is a rare earth phosphate mineral that is widely available as a byproduct from mineral sand mining operations. REEs are critical inputs to electric and hybrid vehicles, electronics, imaging systems, wind turbines, and strategic defence systems.
We seek Safe Harbor.