Medallion Resources making great strides with proprietary process to extract rare earths from mineral sand monazite

Medallion's technology will help meet increasing critical raw material demands Monazite contains up to 60% rare earth minerals and is consistently enriched in neodymium and praseodymium It is widely available as a by-product from operating North American, Australian and African mines What Medallion Resources does: Medallion Resources Ltd (CVE:MDL) (OTCMKTS:MLLOF) is focused on extracting rare earths from monazite, an abundant byproduct of heavy mineral sands mining, and has developed a proprietary technology to do so. The Vancouver-based company is pioneering a process that extracts what is known as magnet metals, or more specifically neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr). These are the essential ingredient in lightweight and powerful rare earth magnets, which are used in electric vehicle (EV) motors and in wind/ solar technology. The value of the global annual NdPr oxide market was US$4.2 billion in 2019 and industry analysts estimate an increase in demand to US$12.7 billion by 2030 - a compound annual growth rate of 13%. UBS has forecast average NdPr prices to stand at US$60 per kilogramme for 2021, although spot prices are higher, while the price should move to around US$100 per kilogramme in 2024, the Swiss bank said. The Medallion monazite process extracts the high-value metals and produces marketable product from over 90% of the feed. China has dominated the production and value-add stages of the rare earths industry for the last three decades as US and European manufacturing industries traded supply security for low prices. The People's Republic currently controls around 85% of global rare-earth production. But Medallion has noted that rare earth elements (REE) have now been repeatedly identified as critical raw materials in both the US and the EU. Significantly, rare earth prices are rising, alongside raw materials for lithium-ion batteries. EV and hybrid vehicles are forecast to make up 40% of new market share by 2030. Medallion's management has marked experience. Its CEO and president is experienced rare earth and critical materials executive Mark Saxon, who led the company in the discovery of the Norra Karr project in Sweden. The company has a market cap of around C$30 million and its shares have risen by around 440% over the last 12 months. How is it doing: In what the company called a "pivotal" moment, Medallion in February 2021 acquired the licence for the exclusive rights to a university-developed rare earth elements (REE) separation process. The license, acquired through Hasler Ventures, provides Medallion with a portfolio of technology, patents, and knowhow for so-called Ligand-assisted displacement (LAD) chromatography technique, developed by Dr Linda Wang, a professor of chemical engineering at Purdue University, which was ranked the fifth most innovative university in the US by US News & World Report. Meanwhile, in April Medallion announced the completion of a suite of diagnostic test work at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO) in Sydney to extract REE from mineral sand monazite -- an abundant REE-rich feedstock that can be accessed as a by-product from global mineral-sand mines that target zirconium and titanium without the need for additional mining. Medallion's business model is centered on the Medallion Monazite Process, a transferable and scalable technology designed to accept multiple mineral-sand monazite feedstocks and extract high-value REEs with high efficiency, high recovery, and zero liquid waste. The company utilizes Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a tool to help reduce the environmental and CO2 impact of REE production. Processing mineral-sand monazite close to the source presents the most sustainable solution versus long-distance transport. And then on June 2, Medallion announced that it had successfully separated and purified the magnetic rare-earth elements neodymium and praseodymium from monazite. It called the news a “significant milestone” that showcases the ”value-add opportunity” from its recent exclusive licensing of the Ligand Assisted Displacement (LAD) Chromatography method and associated patents from Purdue University. The company said it successfully extracted REEs from monazite sourced from a US-based mineral sand mine into a pregnant leach solution (PLS), which was then passed into the LAD Chromatography process to extract neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr) directly from the solution. Separately, the company also said that it is finalizing its Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for its Medallion Monazite Process that will become the foundation for its technology execution strategy. Medallion said delivery of the reports is delayed due to pandemic-related staffing restrictions at the independent consultants that are preparing the reports, but final engineering materials were recently received and financial modelling is in progress. As for capital, the company recently received gross proceeds of about $792,000 from the exercise of around 4.25 million warrants and options, putting it in a “strong position” with over C$2 million of working capital and research and engineering programs underway on both the extraction and the separation of REE. Inflection points: Release of techno-economic assessment results for proposed US rare earth extraction plant Rare earth price moves Partnership/research activity What the boss says: “Research and development is generally a slow and progressive process. It is not often we get to witness first-hand the fast pace of an emerging disruptive technology,” Mark Saxon, Medallion’s CEO, in June's statement announcing that the compa ny had successfully separated and purified the magnetic rare-earth elements neodymium and praseodymium from monazite “It is less than two months since we started working with the LAD process at Purdue and already high-purity Nd and Pr carbonates have been separated from a monazite-sourced leach solution. By keeping the REE in solution from end-to-end, our cost, environmental footprint and recovery efficiency can all be optimized,” he aded. Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com