Mr. Jaye Pickarts reports

RARE ELEMENT RESOURCES PRODUCES RARE EARTH POWDER FROM BEAR LODGE PROJECT THAT IS 99.999% PURE AND THORIUM FREE FROM PATENT-PENDING TECHNOLOGY

Rare Element Resources Ltd. has completed bench-scale testing on enhancements to its existing patent-pending thorium extraction technology that now allows for the selective precipitation of 100 per cent of the thorium while also removing 85 per cent of the cerium, the lowest-value rare earth element. This advancement significantly reduces the concentrate mass of material subject to further separation, thereby reducing costs, and results in an upgraded product that is nearly 40 per cent (by weight) critical rare earths and 99.999 per cent pure rare earth oxide. In the second stage, a two-contact solvent extraction process is used to separate the contained rare earths into heavy rare earths and light rare earths to simplify the separation process and further reduce costs.

Testing was undertaken using concentrates generated from the large-scale pilot plant work performed on the company's proprietary recovery process and was conducted by SGS Lakefield, Canada, and Hazen Research, Colorado, under the direction of Dr. Henry Kasaini, Rare Element Resources' director of science and technology.

"Process advancements on our proprietary recovery process have significantly improved our product, and technology breakthroughs have brought us successfully through the first step of elemental separation," stated Jaye Pickarts, chief operating officer. "Our decision to capture additional value for our shareholders by investigating elemental separation has led to a significant improvement in our thorium removal process that now allows us to also remove the majority of the cerium in a single-contact SX step. By removing this lower-value rare earth, we can reduce the mass that goes through separation, significantly reducing costs. We then use SX to achieve high separation factors for heavy and light rare earths. This represents a significant first step and will give us a great amount of flexibility as we continue to investigate the next steps of separation and how to capture more value by generating the products that our customers need."

Selective separation by precipitation and solvent extraction technology

On Nov. 3, 2014, the company filed an application for a provisional U.S. patent on technology that combines selective precipitation and SX process technology to extract cerium and thorium from the rare earth oxide mix concentrate, and thereby doubling the grade of CREE to about 40 per cent by weight. Subsequently, the upgraded rare earth product is separated into HREE and LREE groups.

The total rare earth concentrate product that results from the company's proprietary rare earth recovery process is initially dissolved in nitric acid, and then complexed with an alkaline solution to make the cerium and thorium amenable to selective precipitation. Over 85 per cent (by weight) of the less-valuable cerium and 100 per cent of the thorium are removed in this process, resulting in a product rich in didymium (37 per cent by weight). This reduces the feedstock to SX and hence requires a smaller processing facility, reducing both capital and processing costs. Depending on the price of cerium, the cerium/thorium stream can be stockpiled or further treated through a separate SX circuit to remove cerium for potential sale.

In addition, the patent application describes a new SX method for sequestering cerium and thorium, either together or separately, from a mixed rare earth solution in a single-contact SX process. This process is now available to remove cerium or thorium from any rare earth product, including the cerium/thorium stream mentioned above. This represents a significant achievement in the SX flow sheet development program due to its ability to reduce the number of steps in subsequent separation processing and improve management of radioactive materials.

After cerium removal, the CREE-enriched product is treated in a single-contact SX step, in which the LREE are separated from the HREE. It is possible to produce an almost cerium-free LREE fraction containing 93 to 98 per cent lanthanum, praseodymium and neodymium, which would allow the company to produce pure lanthanum and didymium products. The HREE fraction includes 97 per cent of all elements from dysprosium to lutetium, including 88 per cent terbium. These separation factors will make further rare earth separation steps cost-effective.

Bench-scale tests are continuing to use either the HREE or LREE feedstocks to separate individual rare earth elements. The company continues its work with potential customers to identify the most attractive and saleable end products for the market.

Low-temperature counter-current leach circuit

The company filed a provisional U.S. patent application in October, 2014, to modify its planned process recovery flow sheet to incorporate the selective digestion of rare earths over some base metals in a low-temperature counter-current leach configuration. The benefits of this process include lower reagent use, including hydrochloric and oxalic acids, decreased energy consumption, reduced cost for neutralization of effluent, lower capital costs and higher quality of the REO bulk concentrate powder. A number of these benefits were reflected in the Bear Lodge preliminary feasibility study results, published on Aug. 26, 2014. Work continues on refining the parameters of the process.

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