The technology is a potential cornerstone of the planned Alaska Strategic Metals Complex, or Alaska SMC, in Ketchikan, Alaska, which will process material from Ucore's Bokan-Dotson Ridge rare earth element project, also located in Ketchikan.

Commissioning of the RapidSX demonstration-scale pilot plant is scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2021, and an independent techno-economic study and the design of a commercial-scale REE separation facility are both planned for completion in the first quarter of 2022.

If IMC, as it expects to do, can demonstrate the effectiveness of the demo plant on REE feedstocks, the subsidiary forecasts RapidSX to be ready for commercial adoption and implementation in approximately 15 months from now, via revenue-producing licensing agreements with IMC customers.

The data derived from the RapidSX development program will be incorporated into the ongoing development of the Alaska SMC, Ucore said.

Ucore chairman and interim chief executive Pat Ryan added: "The outlook and opportunity have never been stronger, and we firmly believe RapidSX has the potential to be a disruptive technology and keystone feature in achieving domestic REE production; resulting in faster and lower-cost production as compared to other competing REE separation technologies."