An abundance of minerals and metals go into advanced energy technologies, including rare earth metals. Applications include turbine magnets for wind power generation and solar cells. These metals (which are actually not that rare) are difficult to mine economically, and until recently have been mined exclusively outside of the U.S., almost entirely in China.
Fortunately, things are changing. Ucore has plans to mine and develop processing facilities for rare earths within the U.S., specifically in Alaska. The aim is to ensure China’s current dominance of the world’s supply of rare earth metals doesn’t lead to the disruption of critical supply chains. Ucore is currently conducting additional mineralogy & metallurgical studies to upgrade the Bokan mill flowsheet for rare earths and other co-products. Mines are an enormous investment, in both time and money, but Ucore is working to supply America with the rare earth metals so many technologies require.