UCORE, CONTINUED from PAGE 26
Transforming Challenges into Solutions Now part of the RESPEC family Same great People , same great Service PDC Engineers has served Alaska’s facilities , transportation , land development , and utilities industries for over 50 years. Now, as part of the RESPEC family, we are happy to offer expanded capabilities in mining and energy , such as: • Exploration • Mine Development • Closure and Reclamation • Operations • Spatial Data Analysis & Management
earth supply chain and the most value-added component.” Right now, most rare earth refining is done in China, using slower and less envi- ronmentally friendly conventional solvent extraction methods and there is no commer- cial rare earth separation taking place in the United States. “RapidSX technology changes that,” Schrider said. “The advantages of RapidSX are signifi - cantly enhanced when dealing with complex feedstocks such as rare earths. When you think about the rare earth elements, you’re talking about 17 different elements relatively close together in molecular weight which re- quires dozens and dozens of conventional SX steps to separate. “RapidSX can reduce the number of steps and required plant size, reduce the amount of required chemicals and shorten the process- ing time … reducing the cost of entry and the cost of operations while still utilizing essen- tially the same proven chemistry as solvent extraction,” he said. What is unique about Ucore’s plan is its fo- cus on the processing plant first, rather than the mine. “The reality is that the Alaska SMC busi- ness model will work with or without Bokan,” Schrider said. “But by building the separation plant first we actually improve our ability to get the mine constructed.” The exact location for the Ketchikan plant is yet to be determined but the company is working with local developers to finalize its plans. Ucore has set the end of 2023 as the tar- get date to begin processing in Ketchikan and late last year asked AIDEA (Alaska Industri- al Development and Export Authority) to join as a project partner in exchange for initial funding. A $3.5 million investment to begin engineering, business development and per- mitting for the Ketchikan plant with an esti- mated construction budget of $35 million. “What we did is set a stake in the ground and said we are going to do everything we can to get this project in motion now and built by the end of 2023,” Schrider said. “We are cur- rently in a due diligence review with AIDEA as a potential equity partner in the Alaska SMC and as soon as this review is complete, we ex- pect the local development work to begin.” “Alaska has always been rich in oil and gas,” Ryan concluded. “Now the NEW oil and gas are critical minerals.”
Anchorage Soldotna 907.743.3200 907.452.1414 907.780.6060 907.707.1215 907.420.0462 www. PDCENG .com Fairbanks Juneau Palmer
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The Alaska Miner
April 2021
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