Ucore Rare Metals (TSX VENTURE:UCU)(OTCQX:UURAF) (“Ucore” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that a strategic consortium organized to recover rare earth element (“REE”) products from coal mining refuse in the United States (the “Consortium”) has been selected by the US Department of Energy (“USDOE”) for the receipt of funding to produce a saleable REE oxide from US coal tailings.
The Consortium has been awarded $US 1 million to source, beneficiate, concentrate, and separate REE from US-based coal mining refuse (the “Grant”). The metal separation and purification process will utilize Molecular Recognition Technology (“MRT”), an American clean energy technology.
The Consortium is comprised of Ucore in cooperation with IBC Advanced Technologies, Inc. of American Fork, Utah (“IBC”), Equinox Chemicals, LLC of Albany, Georgia (“Equinox”) and Physical Sciences Inc. of Andover, Massachusetts (“PSI”).
Jim McKenzie, President and CEO of Ucore, commented:

“The USDOE recognizes that the demand for REE has grown significantly in recent years. That unrelenting demand, in combination with the current US dependence on China for strategic metals, has stimulated an interest in economically feasible approaches to a domestic REE supply chain.
This initiative is in keeping with our strategy of developing a US-based Strategic Metals Complex, and we’re delighted to advance this opportunity.”

Click here to read the full text release.