The Conversation (2)
Canada Rare Earth to Buy Rare Earth Separation Facility in Laos
May. 10, 2016 09:41AM PST
Rare Earth InvestingCanada Rare Earth (TSXV:LL) has entered an agreement to purchase 60 percent of issued and outstanding shares of a company based in Laos, which owns a full capability rare earth refinery. The refinery is designed to process monazite rare earth concentrate and separate the concentrate into the entire spectrum of commercially traded rare earths. As quoted …
Canada Rare Earth (TSXV:LL) has entered an agreement to purchase 60 percent of issued and outstanding shares of a company based in Laos, which owns a full capability rare earth refinery. The refinery is designed to process monazite rare earth concentrate and separate the concentrate into the entire spectrum of commercially traded rare earths.
As quoted in the press release:
The configuration of the Refinery is based on years of design, construction and operating experience in separating rare earth concentrates into individual rare earth oxides to at least 99.99% purity. The engineering team that designed and built the Refinery has built 10 similar refineries that each produce over 3,000 tpa of rare earths including heavy and light elements.
As a part of the transaction the Refinery will become a core element in the Company’s operations. Canada Rare Earth will market internationally and sell products directly to customers globally.
Once the purchase of the Shares closes (the “Closing”), shareholders of LaosCo will be responsible for contributing their respective pro-rata share of working capital requirements. Additionally, shareholders will be responsible for their pro-rata share of future, agreed upon capital expenditures (such as for extending the Refinery’s capabilities to rare earth metal making utilizing the oxide production).
The Agreement is subject to certain terms and conditions including: receiving an operating permit within 6 months of the date of the Agreement; and paying a specified purchase price for the Shares within 12 months of the date of the Agreement. There can be no assurance that either or both of the operating permit or the necessary funding for the purchase of the Shares will be achieved within the specified time frames. For proprietary business and competitive pricing reasons and while fund raising for this initiative, the Agreement precludes the parties from disclosing the purchase price of the Shares until the acquisition of the Shares has closed.