Apr 30 2015
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. ("Ucore" or "the Company") is pleased to report additional results of its ongoing testing of the use of Molecular Recognition Technology ("MRT") for the separation of rare earth elements ("REE's") from Bokan-Dotson Ridge feedstock.
The Company reports that the final REE separation, being the separation of Samarium ("Sm") and Gadolinium ("Gd") from each other, has been achieved with the following results:
Rare Earth Element - Purity1
Samarium (Sm) - 99.2%
Gadolinium (Gd) - 99.2%
1) Purity reported for solution prior to salt production
These results are in addition to the separations previously reported by the Company in its press release dated March 2, 2015.
"We are very pleased with the continued progress being made by IBC with respect to ongoing improvement in the MRT rare earth separation process," said Jim McKenzie, President & CEO of Ucore. "We look forward to completing pilot scale testing of this promising nano technology."
The testing was conducted on beneficiated material sourced from the Company's Bokan Dotson-Ridge property in Southeast Alaska. The pregnant leach solution ("PLS") was prepared by Hazen Research, Inc. of Denver Colorado, using the metallurgical process outlined in the Company's Preliminary Economic Assessment (see Ucore press release dated January 15, 2013).
Individual carbonate salts of Sm and Gd were produced utilizing a proprietary Molecular Recognition Technology ("MRT") circuit developed by IBC Advanced Technologies, Inc. of American Fork, Utah ("IBC"). Full load, wash and elution cycles were performed using IBC's SuperLig® resin in column mode. Elution was accomplished with a small volume of eluent (acid).
As announced by the Company on March 3, 2015, Ucore and IBC have entered into an agreement for the exclusive rights to IBC's SuperLig® Molecular Recognition Technology for rare earth separation, recycling, as well as tailings processing applications. (See Ucore Press release dated March 3, 2015)
Pilot scale testing is planned next to confirm the successful laboratory results. IBC's flow sheet is designed to recover each individual REE at > 99% purity and contains the following steps. Greater than 99% of the REE's, as a group, are first recovered from the PLS; followed by separation of the REE's into a light plus yttrium (La, Pr, Nd + Y) group ("LREE + Y") and a heavy + samarium (Sm-Lu) group ("HREE + Sm"). Individual selective separations of the REE's in each group are then made, as well as earlier individual separations of Sc and Ce.
Steven R. Izatt, President and CEO of IBC, has approved the scientific and technical content of this news release and is the Qualified Person responsible for its accuracy. Mr. Izatt, Registered Member SME, holds an M.S. in Chemical Engineering Practice and an M.S. in Technology and Policy, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Source: http://www.ucore.com/