Disseminated on behalf of Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSX.V: UCU) (OTCQX: UURAF) and may include paid advertising.
- Ucore’s strategy is focused on a persistent bottleneck in rare earth supply chains: separation and refining.
- Operationally, Ucore enters the year with its Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex positioned as the company’s flagship U.S. commercialization step.
- Ucore’s Canadian footprint is also a significant indication of where the company stands as the year starts.
As a new year begins, rare earth elements (“REEs”) remain at the center of industrial policy, defense planning and the energy transition. One company operating in the REE space, Ucore Rare Metals (TSX.V: UCU) (OTCQX: UURAF), is starting the year with multiple concrete milestones that move it from technology development toward commercial-scale processing.
Ucore’s near-term story is increasingly defined by execution. The company is currently advancing its RapidSX(TM) rare earth separation platform from sustained demonstration work in Kingston, Ontario, into a U.S.-based Strategic Metals Complex in Alexandria, Louisiana, while simultaneously strengthening feedstock and downstream partnerships to support a Western-aligned mine-to-magnet supply chain.
Ucore’s strategy is focused on a persistent bottleneck in rare earth supply chains: separation and refining. While rare earth ores exist in multiple jurisdictions, converting mixed concentrates into separated, high-purity rare earth oxides suitable for magnet manufacturing has historically been concentrated in a small number of processing hubs, leaving North American supply chains exposed to external disruption. Ucore’s approach is to build U.S.-based processing infrastructure supplied by feedstock from allied jurisdictions, using RapidSX as its core enabling technology. RapidSX is a next-generation improvement on solvent extraction that is intended to reduce physical footprint and accelerate separations through a modular, column-based process architecture, supporting phased commercial deployment rather than a single massive build.
Operationally, Ucore enters the year with its Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex positioned as the company’s flagship U.S. commercialization step. In a December 2025 update, Ucore said it is preparing to commission its first commercial RapidSX separation unit in mid-2026 as part of its transition from the Kingston, Ontario, Commercialization and Demonstration Facility to the Alexandria, Louisiana, site. The company has also framed the Louisiana build as a heavy rare earth-focused effort, which matters because heavy rare earths such as terbium and dysprosium are critical for high-performance permanent magnets that must operate reliably under demanding conditions, including many defense and advanced energy applications.
A major factor underpinning this push is Ucore’s U.S. government-linked support. In September 2025, Ucore provided progress updates tied to its $22.4 million modified funding agreement with the U.S. Army Contracting Command–Orlando to launch RapidSX separation operations in Alexandria, including completion of initial field work, the application of Defense Priorities and Allocations System (“DPAS”) status to project work and advancement of full commercial scale-up engineering and testing. That DPAS designation is notable in practical terms because it can help prioritize procurement and scheduling for projects aligned with U.S. national defense and supply-chain objectives
Ucore also begins the year with an increasingly defined feedstock picture for Louisiana. In August 2025, the company executed a supply agreement with Critical Metals Corp. tied to the Tanbreez project in Greenland, positioning that relationship as a potential source of heavy rare earth concentrate for Ucore’s U.S. processing plans. Reuters reported the agreement as a 10-year arrangement to supply up to 10,000 metric tons annually of heavy rare earth concentrate and described the Ucore facility as U.S. government-funded, targeting initial production of high-purity rare earth oxides at 2,000 tonnes per annum in 2026, scaling to 7,500 tonnes per annum by 2028. Those scale figures matter because they clarify how Ucore’s approach is intended to ramp over time rather than rely on an all-at-once capacity jump.
On the downstream side, Ucore has also been working to align its oxide output plans with magnet manufacturing capacity in western markets. In November 2025, Ucore announced a strategic alliance with Vacuumschmelze and eVAC Magnetics LLC aimed at evaluating a collaborative supply agreement for high-purity rare earth oxides, explicitly including materials used in neodymium-iron-boron and samarium-cobalt magnet lines. In that same announcement, Ucore noted that eVAC Magnetics had completed construction of a rare earth permanent magnet manufacturing facility in Sumter County, South Carolina, supported by a $111.9 million Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Tax Credit. For investors watching commercialization risk, these kinds of downstream alignment steps can be as important as upstream feedstock, because separated oxides ultimately need contracted pathways into magnet and advanced materials markets.
Ucore’s Canadian footprint is also a significant indication of where the company stands as the year starts, particularly as it relates to mid and heavy rare earths beyond the Louisiana build. In October 2025, Ucore announced conditional approval from the Government of Canada for up to C$36.3 million to demonstrate and scale a first-of-its-kind commercial processing facility in Kingston, Ontario. The facility will be dedicated to refining samarium and gadolinium, with up to C$26.3 million identified from Natural Resources Canada’s Global Partnerships Initiative and up to C$10 million from FedDev Ontario. While the package is conditional on due diligence and final agreements, the stated objective is explicit: to support a North American supply chain for samarium-cobalt magnets and related applications by building dedicated oxide refining capacity.
Taken together, Ucore begins the year with a clearer commercialization pathway than many early-stage critical minerals stories: a defined U.S. commissioning target for mid-2026, a U.S. Army-linked funding framework supporting technology transition and procurement prioritization, a publicly reported feedstock agreement that contemplates multiyear concentrate deliveries, and a downstream alliance structure intended to connect oxide production to magnet manufacturing demand. Ucore’s next chapters will be driven by execution milestones that the company has already put on the calendar, particularly the buildout and staged commissioning of the Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex and further progress toward finalizing and activating its Canadian samarium-gadolinium refining initiative.
For more information, visit www.Ucore.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to UURAF are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/UURAF
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