Oct 29 2014
Rare Earth Salts ("RES" or the "Company"), a leading mineral and applications technology company, today announced the signing of a Joint Development Agreement ("JDA") with one of the ten largest mining companies in the world ("Mining Co").
The JDA is structured in phases and its intent is to demonstrate the scalability of, and ultimately use, RES' technology at commercial scale to extract, separate and refine rare earth elements from one of Mining Co's highly attractive deposits.
"The signing of this joint development agreement is a major milestone for our organization and further validates our core business strategy. After working with more than thirty deposits around the globe we selected Mining Co for the both the attractiveness of their deposit and the credibility that comes with working with them on our first project," said Allen Kruse, Chief Executive Officer of RES. "With the completion of this agreement we are now entirely focused on building a successful pilot plant. We are confident not only in the ability of our technology to scale but also its potential to provide a fundamental shift in the rare earth industry."
The pilot plant design, construction and operation will be in Southeastern Nebraska, United States and is expected to commence in the first half of 2015 and be completed within eighteen months of breaking ground. Following the completion of the pilot plant, a definitive feasibility study will be conducted and will be followed by the anticipated design, construction, and operation of a commercial scale facility. Once the commercial facility is fully operational, RES will be responsible for selling the final separated and refined rare earth end products.
Initial test work with Mining Co's deposit using RES' environmentally friendly process has demonstrated industry leading recovery rates and projects, at scale, some of the lowest operating costs in the industry. RES' goal is to service end use customers by providing consistent supply of the highest quality product at competitive prices.