Alderan Resources Limited

More Highly Anomalous Rare Earth and Lithium Assays in Brazil Itaipe Project

Alderan Resources Limited (ASX: AL8) (Alderan or the Company) is pleased to advise that stream sediment samples collected from its Itaipe lithium project area in Minas Gerais, Brazil contain highly anomalous grades of neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr) rare earth elements (REE) and lithium (Li). Assays received to date highlight that three of Alderan’s seven lithium exploration areas, Carai, Itambacuri and now Itaipe have lithium and rare earth anomalies requiring followup exploration. 1 Assay results for the final three areas are expected this month.


HIGHLIGHTS

  • Highly anomalous rare earth element and lithium stream sediment assays have been obtained for the Itaipe area
  • Alderan now has three project areas in Brazil with highly anomalous rare earth element and lithium assays in stream sediment samples over a combined area of more than 30 km2 - Itaipe, Carai and Itambacuri
  • Itaipe neodymium and praseodymium rare earth assays grade up to 72ppm and 23ppm respectively – 6x their respective background grades in the area
  • Itaipe lithium grades range up to 87ppm against a background grade of 5ppm Li
  • Itaipe grade correlations are very strong between neodymium, praseodymium, samarium, terbium, gadolinium and dysprosium suggesting a favourable geological environment for rare earth elements
  • Next steps in Q3 2024 at Itaipe, Carai and Itambacuri will include detailed stream sampling of anomaly areas to define the prospects for detailed soil sampling, geological mapping and drilling
  • Update on Frisco Copper-Gold Project in Utah USA: rehabilitation bond for new drill sites paid to Utah Dept of Oil, Gas & Mines and Stage 1 drill site permits awaited; revised target for drill start is first half August

The highest neodymium and praseodymium assays in the Itaipe stream sediment samples grade up to 72.1ppm and 22.8ppm respectively. Neodymium background grades across all samples is less than 10.0ppm and the average grade is 20.8ppm while the background grade for praseodymium is less than 5.0ppm and average 6.3ppm across all samples. There are very strong positive correlations between neodymium and praseodymium, samarium, terbium, gadolinium and dysprosium suggesting a favourable geological environment for rare earth elements.

Lithium is anomalous in a number of drainages in the Itaipe area. The background lithium grade through the area is approximately 5ppm and the average grade for all samples is 9.9ppm. Anomalous samples with grades up to 87.5ppm, 43.6 and 41.3ppm occur in the southwest and central portions of the project area. There are strong positive correlations between lithium and caesium, beryllium, rubidium and niobium which also suggests a favourable geological environment for lithium mineralisation.

Managing Director of Alderan, Scott Caithness, commented:

“Alderan now has three project areas in Brazil, Itambacuri, Carai and Itaipe, with highly anomalous lithium and rare earth element assays in stream sediments samples for followup exploration. At Itaipe, the maximum lithium assay is well over ten times the background lithium grade and eight times the average grade for the area. The strong lithium-caesium-beryllium-rubidium-niobium correlation again suggests the right geological environment for lithium mineralisation.

“The anomalous neodymium and praseodymium rare earth element assays potentially highlight a northeast trending zone though the centre of the project area with grades 3-7 times background.

“Alderan’s next steps at Itaipe will be infill stream sediment sampling to identify prospect scale lithium and rare earth areas for detailed geological mapping and soil sampling. Assays for the stream sediments collected over the remaining project areas in Minas Gerais are expected over the next month.

“At the Frisco project In Utah, USA, as instructed by the Utah Department of Oil, Gas and Mines, an additional reclamation bond for new drill sites at the New Years copper-gold prospect has been paid however drilling permits are yet to be received for Stage 1 drill sites. The programme is now targeted to commence in the first half of August.”

Rare Earth Elements – Background

Rare earth elements (REE) are a set of seventeen metallic elements which include the fifteen lanthanides on the periodic table plus scandium and yttrium.2 The REEs are typically divided into light rare earths (LREE) with low atomic numbers and heavy rare earths (HREE) with high atomic numbers. The most important REEs based on value are the light rare earths neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr) and the heavy rare earths dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb).

Rare earth elements are critical in many high-tech consumer products such as mobile telephones, computer hard drives, electric and hybrid vehicles plus flat-screen monitors and televisions. In defence they are key components in electronic displays, guidance systems, lasers and radar and sonar systems. The amount of rare earths used in a product may not be significant in terms of weight, value or volume however the it can be essential for the device to function. For example, magnets made of rare earths often represent only a fraction of the total weight of desktops and laptops however without them there would be no spindle motors and voice coils. The increase in high-tech products and defence technologies throughout the world has led to growing demand for rare earths.

The principal uses of neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium are in magnets and lasers used in high tech products and defence.3 The Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) prices for these metals is in Table 1.4

The principal economic sources of rare earths are the minerals bastnasite, monazite, and loparite and the lateritic ion-adsorption clays.5 Global rare earth element production in 2023 totalled 350,000t with China the dominant global miner producing 240,000t followed by the USA with production of 43,000t and Burma 38,000t (see Table 2). Brazil’s 2023 production of REE was 80t however it has a number of emerging hard rock and ion-adsorption clay projects which will see its production increase significantly in coming years.

A key advantage of iron-adsorption clay rare earth element projects is that they are typically at or very close to surface and the metals can be extracted using simple leaching technology resulting in low production costs.


Click here for the full ASX Release

This article includes content from Alderan Resources Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.

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Ucore Announces Memorandum of Understanding and Project Collaboration with Cyclic Materials

Ucore Rare Metals Inc. announces:

  • The execution of a memorandum of understanding ("MOU") with Cyclic Materials for the future supply of recycled mixed rare earth oxide ("rMREO"):

    • trial quantities to support its rare earth demonstration program at its RapidSX™ Commercialization and Demonstration Facility in Kingston, Ontario

    • as an intended long-term source for Ucore's developing commercial rare earth element separation and oxide production plants across the United States and Canada

Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSXV: UCU) (OTCQX: UURAF) ("Ucore" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the completion of prerequisite conditions to announce the execution of a February 2024, non-binding memorandum of understanding ("MOU") with Cyclic Materials ("Cyclic") for the future supply of recycled mixed rare earth oxides ("rMREO").

Cannot view this image? Visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1119/217640_bc616a52b4da0acf_001.jpg

Figure 1 - The two Canadian companies' demonstration facilities, Cyclic Materials' Hub100 and Ucore's RapidSX™ CDF, are side-by-side in Kingston, Ontario

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1119/217640_bc616a52b4da0acf_001full.jpg

The companies will work together toward determining the potential of a long-term supply agreement, starting with Cyclic Materials supplying trial quantities of rMREO to Ucore's RapidSX™ Commercialization Demonstration Plant. This project received $4.28 million[i] in contribution funding from Natural Resources Canada's ("NRCan") Critical Minerals Research, Development and Demonstration Program ("CMRDD"). This funding was announced on February 5, 2024, with the goal of processing rare earth materials through Ucore's RapidSX™ Commercialization and Demonstration Facility ("CDF") in Kingston, Ontario. The ultimate objective of the MOU is to qualify Cyclic Materials' product in Ucore's process and ensure Ucore's developing North American commercial rare earth oxide production output includes North American recycled content from Cyclic Materials, as Cyclic's capacities scale.

Mike Schrider, P.E., Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Ucore, stated: "Ucore is very pleased to be working with Cyclic Materials on our rare earth demonstration project and as a potential long-term supply partner of our developing commercial rare earth oxide production facilities. Ucore and Cyclic Materials offer a complete Canadian technology solution to alter North America's rare earth supply chain dependence, and we are very pleased to have NRCan's support as we demonstrate these two transformative technologies working together in Kingston, Ontario."

Kunal Phalpher, SVP Corporate Development - Cyclic Materials - "Cyclic Materials roots are in Ontario, and we are very pleased to have this opportunity to support Ucore's project with NRCan as we advance and commercialize our technology. We look forward to contributing to this project to support the development of a domestic supply chain for rare earth elements and magnets required for the energy transition."

# # #

About Ucore Rare Metals Inc.

Ucore is focused on rare- and critical-metal resources, extraction, beneficiation, and separation technologies with the potential for production, growth, and scalability. Ucore's vision and plan is to become a leading advanced technology company, providing best-in-class metal separation products and services to the mining and mineral extraction industry.

Through strategic partnerships, this plan includes disrupting the People's Republic of China's control of the North American REE supply chain through the near-term establishment of a heavy and light rare-earth processing facility in the U.S. State of Louisiana, subsequent Strategic Metal Complexes in Canada and Alaska and the longer-term development of Ucore's 100% controlled Bokan-Dotson Ridge Rare Heavy REE Project on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska, USA.

Ucore is listed on the TSXV under the trading symbol "UCU" and in the United States on the OTC Markets' OTCQX® Best Market under the ticker symbol "UURAF."

For further information, please visit www.ucore.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements." All statements in this release (other than statements of historical facts) that address future business development, technological development and/or acquisition activities (including any related required financings), timelines, events, or developments that the Company is pursuing are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance or results, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements.

Regarding any disclosure in the press release above about the US Department of Defense or the Government of Canada Programs and the expected successful progress and resulting milestone payments from these Programs, the Company has assumed that the Programs (including each of their milestones) will be completed satisfactorily. For additional risks and uncertainties regarding the Company, the CDF, the Demo Plant, and ongoing Programs (generally), see the risk disclosure in the Company's MD&A for Q1-2024 (filed on SEDAR on May 28, 2024) (www.sedarplus.ca) as well as the risks described below.

Regarding the disclosure above in the "About Ucore Rare Metals Inc." section, the Company has assumed that it will be able to procure or retain additional partners and/or suppliers, in addition to Innovation Metals Corp. ("IMC"), as suppliers for Ucore's expected future Strategic Metals Complexes ("SMCs"). Ucore has also assumed that sufficient external funding will be found to complete the Demo Plant demonstration schedule and also later prepare a new National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") technical report that demonstrates that the Bokan Mountain Rare Earth Element project ("Bokan") is feasible and economically viable for the production of both REE and co-product metals and the then prevailing market prices based upon assumed customer offtake agreements. Ucore has also assumed that sufficient external funding will be secured to continue the development of the specific engineering plans for the SMCs and their construction. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, without limitation: IMC failing to protect its intellectual property rights in RapidSX™; RapidSX™ failing to demonstrate commercial viability in large commercial-scale applications; Ucore not being able to procure additional key partners or suppliers for the SMCs; Ucore not being able to raise sufficient funds to fund the specific design and construction of the SMCs and/or the continued development of RapidSX™; adverse capital-market conditions; unexpected due-diligence findings; the emergence of alternative superior metallurgy and metal-separation technologies; the inability of Ucore and/or IMC to retain its key staff members; a change in the legislation in Louisiana or Alaska and/or in the support expressed by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority ("AIDEA") regarding the development of Bokan; the availability and procurement of any required interim and/or long-term financing that may be required; and general economic, market or business conditions.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined by the TSXV) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CONTACTS

Mr. Michael Schrider, P.E., Ucore Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, is responsible for the content of this news release and may be contacted at 1.902.482.5214.

For additional information, please contact:

Mark MacDonald
Vice President, Investor Relations
Ucore Rare Metals Inc.
1.902.482.5214
mark@ucore.com

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