UCORE (IMC) contract W900KK2390006 I was looking at the contract (https://www.highergov.com/awardee/ucore-rare-metals-inc-518266800/) and was struck by several points.
1) The contract projects a "potential end date" out to June 3, 2025
2) The contract lists "Place of Performance" as
"Alexandria, LA 71303 United States"
3) Even though the contract was issued by the Army Contracting Command's "small business office", IMC is categorized as a "Large Business" in the Business Size Determination Category
4) West Virginia University (WVU) was awarded $3 million from DOD to develop a rare earth recovery program from acid mine drainage and mine tailings. That award, W900KK2390005, was given before IMC's award, hence the lower award number. But WVU's award was announced on June 7th (4 days AFTER Innovation Metals Corp).
The two awards are grouped in ways, and apparently in DOD's mind West Virigia's vast coal mining tailings present a vast resource trove. All that is needed is to extract the rare earths out into a concentrate, and then send that concentrate somewhere where it can be made into an oxide.
:0
P.S. WVU received $8 million from the Department of Energy to undertake the same rare earth reclamation project on April 6, 2023 (exactly 2 months before it received another $3 million from the Department of Defense).
:)
P.P.S. Omnis Sublimation Recovery Technologies announced in November 2022 that it would invest $60 million in a rare earth extraction (concentrate) facility in West Virginia, which will utilize coal tailings/waste and is supposed to have its equipment installed in "mid-2023".
I think I see a symbiosis developing: West Virginia mine tailings (coal waste impoundments), rare earth concentrates, rare earth oxides, Ucore, Department of Energy, Department of Defense. What do you think Dragon?
: l