VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Search Minerals Inc.(TSXV: SMY) (“Search” or the “Company”) and USA Rare Earth, LLC (“USA Rare Earth”) are pleased to announce that USA Rare Earth, LLC purchased 9,000,000 units at $0.07 per unit for proceeds of $630,000 CDN in the Company’s most recent financing that closed on March 11, 2021.
On November 10, 2020, Search and USA Rare Earth jointly announced a Technical Collaboration Framework Agreement whereby the two companies would work on several initiatives. USA Rare Earth is the funding and development partner of the Round Top Heavy Rare Earth, Lithium and Critical Minerals Project in Hudspeth County, West Texas, together with Texas Mineral Resources Corp. (OTCQB: TMRC). As part of Search’s and USA Rare Earth’s development plans, the companies intend to expand the collaboration to include discussions regarding separation, marketing and off-take of Search’s future production. These discussions are in line with Search’s ambition to be an important contributor to the development of a North American Critical Material supply chain and USA Rare Earth’s strategy of Mine-to-Magnet processing.
Search is focused on finding and developing Critical Rare Earths Elements (CREE), Zirconium (Zr) and Hafnium (Hf) resources within the emerging Port Hope Simpson – St. Lewis CREE District of South East Labrador. The Company controls a belt 63 km long and 2 km wide and is road accessible, on tidewater, and located within 3 local communities. Search has completed a 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment report for FOXTROT, and a 43-101 resource estimate for DEEP FOX. Search is also working on three significant exploration prospects along the belt which include: FOX MEADOW, SILVER FOX and AWESOME FOX.
USA Rare Earth is building an integrated Mine-to-Magnet supply chain as the development and funding partner of the Round Top Mountain critical minerals and heavy rare earth project in Hudspeth County, West Texas, the owner of sintered rare earth magnet manufacturing equipment previously owned and operated by Hitachi Metals in North Carolina, and the operator of a a rare earth and critical minerals facility in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, which is commissioning a pilot plant using Continuous Ion Exchange (CIX) extraction, separation and recovery methods using feedstock from Round Top and other non-Chinese sources.
Greg Andrews, President/CEO of Search, stated: “We have already started a strong technical collaboration with USA Rare Earth and are excited to deepen our relationship through this placement. This collaboration is timely as we initiate our discussions with our government funding partners to advance our project with the construction of a demonstration plant in St. Lewis, Labrador. We are excited to work with USA Rare Earth, as they build out their Mine to Magnet strategy.”
Pini Althaus, CEO of USA Rare Earth, said: “The U.S. and Canada continue to work closely under the U.S. – Canada Joint Action Plan on Critical Mineral Collaboration originally launched in January 2020. We are pleased to further strengthen the collaboration between Search and USA Rare Earth, which is very much in accordance with the objective set forth by President Biden in his recent Executive Order. We also see collaboration between companies, particularly on processing and marketing of materials, as an integral part of establishing a secure critical minerals supply chain independent of China.”
Growth in rare earth markets is being driven by rare earth (neo) magnets used in electric motors for electric vehicles and generators in wind turbines. Neo magnets used in these high-temperature applications use alloys including neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium. Search has significant resources of neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium at FOXTROT and DEEP FOX, which will be complimentary to the USA Rare Earth Round Top Mountain critical minerals and heavy rare earth project, which has a high concentration of dysprosium and terbium as well as neodymium and praseodymium.
For further information, please contact:
| Greg Andrews | | USA Rare Earth, LLC |
| President and CEO | | Pini Althaus |
| Tel: 604-998-3432 | | Chief Executive Officer |
| E-mail: info@searchminerals.ca | | Email: pini@usare.com |
| Twitter: @SearchMinerals | | Twitter: @USARareEarth |
About Search Minerals Inc.
Led by a proven management team and board of directors, Search is focused on finding and developing Critical Rare Earths Elements (CREE), Zirconium (Zr) and Hafnium (Hf) resources within the emerging Port Hope Simpson – St. Lewis CREE District of South East Labrador. The Company controls a belt 63 km long and 2 km wide and is road accessible, on tidewater, and located within 3 local communities. Search has completed a preliminary economic assessment report for FOXTROT, and a resource estimate for DEEP FOX. Search is also working on three exploration prospects along the belt which include: FOX MEADOW, SILVER FOX
and AWESOME FOX.
Search has continued to optimize our patented Direct Extraction Process technology with the generous support from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (“InnovateNL”) and from the Atlantic Canada Opportunity Agency (“ACOA”). We have completed two pilot plant operations and produced highly purified mixed rare earth carbonate concentrate and mixed REO concentrate for separation and refining. For more information about Search, visit www.searchminerals.ca.
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