Ucore Rare Metals (TSX-V:UCU) has secured an additional US$4.6 million ($6.4 million) from the US Department of War (DoW) to expand its rare earth elements separation program in Louisiana.
The funding builds on an agreement signed in May 2025, under which the DoW committed US$18.4 million to help advance Ucore’s RapidSX™ rare earth separation technology towards full-scale commercial operation.
The latest investment is expected to support further scale-up and commercialisation of the technology at Ucore’s developing Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex (SMC) in Alexandria.
As part of the program, Ucore plans to install a full-scale RapidSX™ separation machine capable of demonstrating commercial-scale production of six of the seven rare earths affected by China‘s export restrictions — praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, gadolinium, terbium, and dysprosium.
Program expands to samarium and gadolinium
According to Ucore, the DoW has now modified its existing Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) to expand the program funding to include samarium and gadolinium.
Both materials have been identified by the US Government as priorities for strengthening domestic critical mineral supply chains.
Samarium is a key input for samarium-cobalt magnets used in defence and aerospace applications where magnetic performance at high temperatures is required.
Gadolinium has applications across specialised coatings, electronics, and the nuclear industry, including as a neutron absorber in nuclear reactors.
Both were identified by the US Geological Survey as among the minerals facing the highest supply chain risks in its 2025 assessment, after China’s export controls included metals, oxides, and compounds containing those elements.
In February 2026, the Defense Industrial Base Consortium issued a US Government request for projects addressing domestic production gaps across 13 critical minerals, including samarium and gadolinium, with separation and processing among the capabilities being sought.
“We are seeing heightened interest from Washington in the role Ucore can play in securing critical rare earth supplies,” Ucore’s CEO Pat Ryan says.
“We have optimised our commercial equipment configurations, strengthened our financial position, and now secured additional DoW funding for an expanded program.”
Ucore targets early production
The funding will cover phase two of Ucore’s Separation Technology Capabilities Prototype Project as the company works towards full-scale construction and early production at its Louisiana facility this year.
Including phase one, Ucore says it has now secured a total of US$27 million under the OTA.
The additional government support follows several advances in Ucore’s commercialisation program during the summer.
In June, the company shipped neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide qualification samples to major magnet manufacturers. It followed that up in July by announcing the production of 99.9% pure dysprosium oxide, which has since been shipped for customer qualification.
In August, Ucore completed its RapidSX™ contactor scale-up program following more than 400 optimisation tests and closed a public offering raising approximately C$69 million ($69.5 million).
The company says these milestones are supporting the development of future commercial relationships across its broader rare earth product portfolio.
“The dots are connecting around a clear national need: the ability to separate the materials that US defence and industrial supply chains depend on,” Ryan says.
Ucore is focused on rare earth and critical metal resources, extraction, beneficiation, and separation technologies, with potential for production, growth, and scalability.
Write to Jackson Chen at Mining.com.au
Image: Ucore Rare Metals
