The Board of Ionic Rare Earths Limited (“IonicRE” or “The Company”) (ASX: IXR) is pleased to advise on progress at Ionic Technologies International Ltd (“IonicTech”) Belfast facility in the UK, and the development of a Magnet Recycling Demonstration Plant to scale up the technology.
- Progress remains on track for first Demonstration Plant production of separated and refined high purity magnet rare earth oxides (REO) expected late June 2023;
- In excess of 40 tonnes of NdFeB permanent magnets now on hand, sourced globally from wind turbines, MRI’s, EV motors swarf and other applications to provide feedstock for the Demonstration Plant trials; and
- Belfast facility welcomes the increase in visits from key supply chain / end users and investors with near term strategic potential for further roll out of the technology to address sovereign security on magnet REO production.
IonicTech is a 100% owned subsidiary based in Belfast UK, which the Company acquired in H1 2022 (formerly Seren Technologies Ltd). IonicTech has developed rare earth element separation and refining technology and applied this to the recycling of spent permanent Neodymium-Iron-Boron (NdFeB) magnets. The process uses a hydrometallurgical process to extract the rare earth elements (REE), then separate the individual magnet REEs within – Neodymium (Nd), Praseodymium (Pr), Dysprosium (Dy) and Terbium (Tb) – and finally refine to high purity individual magnet rare earths oxides (REO).
In September 2022, IonicTech was awarded a grant of £1.72 million (approximately A$2.9 million) from the UK Government’s Innovate UK Automotive Transformation Fund Scale-up Readiness Validation (SuRV) program, to develop a demonstration scale magnet recycling plant, a significant step towards securing the UK supply of critical rare earth metals for EV manufacture. The magnet recycling Demonstration Plant represents a scale up of the successful pilot plant campaigns completed to date and will provide further data for the development of a commercial facility(s).
During Q1 2023, the majority of the Demonstration Plant equipment was received to the Belfast facility, which is being installed and hydrostatic testing of vessels has now commenced. Commissioning is progressing to schedule and process commissioning will commence throughout April.
The Company has already sourced, globally, in excess of 40 tonnes of NdFeB permanent magnets from wind turbines, electric vehicle (EV) motors, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, and other applications, plus swarf from alloy and magnet manufacturing, to provide a diverse feedstock range for Demonstration Plant trials.
The variable magnet REE content within the feed stock materials, with fluctuating compositions of magnet REEs – Nd, Pr, Dy and Tb, along with other REE detected in the magnets after analysis – and will provide IonicTech with a solid foundation to demonstrate the technology’s attributes. Unlike many other recycling technologies, the IonicTech magnet recycling process is agnostic on magnet quality, can process oxidised magnets and can manage coatings and films, to produce individually separated and refined high purity REOs, which is providing significant interest to potential downstream users.
Throughout the quarter just gone, IonicTech has also focused on implementing the Health and Safety systems, including completion of several safety best practise processes in advance of the demonstration plant installation, commissioning and operation.
Furthermore, the IonicTech team in Belfast continues to grow with the addition of technical and operational roles to support the work programs with commissioning ramping up towards the commencement of production, and further capability expected to be added over the next quarter.
Having recently visited the Belfast facility to observe the progress at IonicTech, IonicRE’s Managing Director Mr Tim Harrison commented:
“The progress in Belfast has been substantial over the past few months since my last visit in November. With equipment now delivered and installed, with commissioning now underway, we are confident that full commissioning will be completed on time, and I expect to see production of REOs this quarter.”
“The successful commissioning of the Magnet Recycling Demonstration Plant at our Belfast facility will be a key catalyst for the Company in being able to establish meaningful supply chain partnerships in value addition for the magnet REOs we will produce in Belfast. Our engagement with metal and alloy manufacturers is progressing, and we expect to be able to deliver inventory of separated magnet REOs for further value addition in the third quarter of this year.”
“With the momentum the Company is seeing for alternative supply of magnet REOs and the recent European Critical Raw Material Act, and the intent to source 15% of these newly named Strategic Raw Materials, we continue to field new enquiries on the technology. The potential to rapidly deploy the modular technology is appealing to western markets looking to develop domestic, secure, and sustainable supply chains from secondary sources through recycling.”
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