Alaskan Government Enters Financing Talks with Ucore

Ucore Rare Metals (TSXV:UCU,OTCQX:UURAF) reports that it has entered financing discussions with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) for Ucore’s Strategic Metals Complex (SMC), as the initial phase of Ucore’s overall Bokan-Dotson Ridge rare earth mine project.

The commencement of discussions has been documented by a Letter of Support from AIDEA.

As quoted from the press release:

Pursuant to the letter, the parties acknowledge that the construction of the SMC will be the highest development priority, due to market demand, and will pre-date the planned ore extraction infrastructure at the Bokan rare earth element (REE) mine. The letter also sets out the targeted completion date of late 2020 for the SMC, and will be accepting feedstock from multiple domestic and international locations.

The financing for the production facility is expected to be furnished pursuant to Senate Bill 99, approved by the Alaska Legislature in 2014. The bill provides AIDEA with the discretion to issue up to US$145 million dollars in AIDEA bonds to Ucore in order to finance the infrastructure and construction costs of the Bokan REE project. The SMC has been designated as a prospective component of that US$145 million undertaking, and as stated in the Letter, AIDEA has now engaged in the process of examining methods to provide funding for the SMC. The AIDEA financing process will ultimately incorporate a review of Ucore’s site selection, capex requirements, opex computations and offtake plans.

“We’d like to express our gratitude to AIDEA and the State of Alaska for the initiation of this advanced stage process, for the support inherent in the Letter, and for the significant funding available via Senate Bill 99,” said Jim McKenzie, President & CEO of Ucore. “The SMC will initially be constructed to process by-product and primary rare earth concentrates from non-Chinese operations that require REE separation services to produce a saleable product in the current Chinese dominated rare earth element worldwide market. The process required to get us to this advanced stage has been multifaceted, and the work of AIDEA to shepherd this important Southeast Alaska facility is indispensable to us. A particular word of thanks to Mr. Springsteen and his staff.”

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