SIERRA BLANCA, TX--(Marketwired - Feb 4, 2015) - Texas Rare Earth Resources Corp. (OTCQX: TRER)
Near-term term milestone will produce pure (99.99%) fully separated heavy rare earth (HREE) oxide
Texas Rare Earth Resources Corp. (TRER), an exploration company specializing in the heavy rare earths, is beginning Stages 2 and 3 of the hydrometallurgical project to produce high purity (99.99%) separated rare earth elements from crushed Round Top rhyolite leached with dilute sulfuric acid. K-Technologies, Inc. (K-Tech) based at Lakeland, Florida, is continuing work started in August 2014 which has employed continuous ion exchange (CIX) to produce a highly concentrated, low impurity rare earth element (REE) feedstock solution from the leach solution obtained from leaching crushed Round Top Rhyolite with dilute sulfuric acid.
Metallurgical work completed in December 2014 has shown that the dilute REE bearing sulfate solution can be efficiently treated to produce a purified solution exceeding specifications for feedstock for a separation plant employing either a solvent extraction (SX) or a continuous ion exchange (CIX) process. We regard the successfully completed Stage 1 a technological breakthrough in that we were able use continuous ion exchange procedures (CIX) employing readily available ion exchange resins to produce the feedstock solution from an impure low grade leach solution. This was Stage 1 of a three stage program whose ultimate objective is to produce 4-9's (99.99%) pure separated rare earth elements in either oxide or carbonate form.
Stage 2, under way now, will be to further process the feedstock solution from Stage 1 into three high purity streams: light, mid and heavy REE classes. Stage 3 will be to select individual REE's from the heavy class and produce individual high purity (99.99%) products employing continuous ion chromatography (CIC) processing technology. Work to optimize the leaching of the rhyolite will be concurrently conducted at K-Tech's facility.
Dan Gorski, CEO, commented; "The objective of these next two Stages is to produce gram sized samples of 4-9s (99.99%), separated rare earth oxides or carbonate from leached Round Top rhyolite. We believe the completion of these two Stages would establish TRER as a leader in becoming the first non-Chinese source of the strategically vital heavy rare earth elements. The CIX and CIC process holds promise to materially reduce both capital and operating costs of the envisioned operation at Round Top. Our target is to complete Stages 2 and 3 within six months and to then scale up and move directly on to the pilot plant stage of development."
About Texas Rare Earth Resources Corp.
Texas Rare Earth Resources Corp.'s primary focus is exploring and, if warranted, developing its Round Top rare earth minerals project located in Hudspeth County, Texas, 85 miles east of El Paso. The Company's common stock trades on the OTCQX U.S. tier under the symbol "TRER." For more information on Texas Rare Earth Resources Corp., visit its website at www.trer.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the objectives of the hydrometallurgical project, future results of the processing, timing, completion and results of Stage 2 and Stage 3, completion of Stage 2 and Stage 3 placing TRER as a leader in non-Chinese sources of strategically vital heavy rare earth elements, potential reduced capital and operating costs from CIX and CIC processing, mineralization and resources at the Round Top project and potential development of the Round Top project and such similar statements. When used in this press release, the words "potential," "indicate," "expect," "intend," "hopes," "believe," "may," "will," "if, "anticipate," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include, among others, risks related to changes in future operating costs and working capital balance, risks related to the Company's ability to raise sufficient funds to continue its plan of operation, risks related to mineral estimates, risks related to mining results not matching preliminary tests and risks related to the ability of the company to successfully monetize its non-rare earth resources, as well as those factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's latest annual report on Form 10-K, as filed on November 12, 2014, and other documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements.