Curated News
By: NewsRamp Editorial Staff
August 12, 2025
Ucore Advances U.S. Rare Earth Independence with $18.4M DoD Award
TLDR
- Ucore Rare Metals secures an $18.4 million DoD award to advance its RapidSX technology, offering a competitive edge in domestic heavy rare earth element supply.
- Ucore's RapidSX technology enables faster, more efficient rare earth element separation with a smaller footprint, supported by phase 2 DoD funding for commercial scaling.
- Ucore's initiative to reshore critical mineral processing with RapidSX technology strengthens national security and promotes a sustainable, less China-dependent rare earth supply chain.
- Discover how Ucore's RapidSX technology is revolutionizing rare earth processing, making it ten times faster and significantly more space-efficient than traditional methods.
Impact - Why it Matters
This news is pivotal as it represents a significant advancement in the U.S. efforts to reduce dependence on foreign sources for critical rare earth elements, essential for national defense and the burgeoning clean energy and electric vehicle sectors. Ucore's RapidSX technology and the development of the Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex could herald a new era of domestic rare earth production, ensuring supply chain security and fostering technological innovation in mineral processing.
Summary
Ucore Rare Metals (TSX.V: UCU) (OTCQX: UURAF) has secured an $18.4 million phase 2 award from the U.S. Department of Defense to advance its Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex (LA SMC), marking a significant step towards reducing reliance on Chinese-dominated rare earth element (REE) processing technologies. The funding will support the engineering, procurement, and early construction of the LA SMC, leveraging Ucore's innovative RapidSX(TM) technology for the separation of heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) like terbium and dysprosium, crucial for defense and high-tech applications. This development not only underscores the U.S. government's confidence in Ucore's ability to establish a domestic HREE supply chain but also highlights the strategic importance of securing alternative sources for critical minerals.
The phase 2 award builds on the success of phase 1, where Ucore demonstrated the efficacy of RapidSX in separating HREEs, receiving over $3.35 million in payments. RapidSX technology offers a faster, more efficient, and scalable alternative to traditional solvent extraction methods, with the potential to revolutionize the REE supply chain. Ucore aims to achieve full mechanical completion of the LA SMC by the second half of 2026, positioning the company as a key player in the domestic production of HREEs. This initiative is a critical move towards ensuring national security, supporting the defense sector, and meeting the growing demand for rare earth elements in clean energy and electric vehicle technologies.
Source Statement
This curated news summary relied on content disributed by InvestorBrandNetwork (IBN). Read the original source here, Ucore Advances U.S. Rare Earth Independence with $18.4M DoD Award
