 Hi, this is Jack Luffin and today I have the distinct pleasure of speaking with Pat Ryan, the Chairman and CEO of UCOR, Wear Our Metals. And before we start talking about UCOR, Pat, I'd like you to tell us a little bit about your background because I think your background is outstanding in this sector and is going to tell our viewers quite a bit about how you're going forward. Okay, Jack, certainly good to see you. I'm a mechanical engineer by training, but my career has been spent in the automotive industry. 25 years ago, I founded a Tier 1 automotive manufacturing company. And as you would know, the Tier 1 manufacturer is the most complicated, the most complex, the most intricate part of the supply chain for automotive. And all the disciplines that go along with that, the ability to build processes that are delivering on time, delivering on cost, delivering on quantities when quantities need to be put forth, those are key elements. And when you look at what's happening in the critical metal rare earth space, the same disciplines used in the automotive internal combustion engine today are those that need to be translated to the electric vehicle market going forward. So I'm very at home and very comfortable with the market as it's evolving and understanding all the pieces that fit. And I've heard you mentioned before acronyms like PPAP, production prior to approval process, which is against, you know, at the center of making sure the automotive company gets what they have actually ordered on time at the right price, right spec. And other things like that. So yeah, Jack, my background is very hand in glove, if you will, with what's happening in the purple movie market today. And so what I'd like you to tell us is you, you chorus made quite a few announcements in the last few months about his business model and going forward. Can you tell us where you are basically describe the business model and tell us where you are in that and what your target days for production are? Yeah, certainly, you know, we've all seen the the numbers of the supply chains, if you will. You've got upstream characters that have to give you feedstock to make the whole thing work. You've got the middle market, which is the ability to separate. Not to make a mix con, as you've noted in three conversations, but to get to a an oxide market. Then downstream, you have to have actual customers that have specifications and requirements. So you've got to be able to build the supply chain and understand on day one, what your end customer wants. I mean, what are you building and why what's the purpose. So in May of 2020, we acquired innovation metals corp. And I got to know Dr. Gareth hatch quite well. And I think you know, Gareth also. And, you know, his his approach to taking a known separation process solvent extraction used to get to oxides and to do it that much more effectively. And when I say effectively the extraction rates that are our magnitudes of 10 times versus solvent extraction using what they call rapid sx or rapid solvent extraction. That was a key to get that middle market defined. We then went to work looking at the downstream and with my automotive background. It's always difficult jack under NDA to be able to express entirely what's going on. But I can say that we're engaged with at least three automotive manufacturers discussing what their needs are for electrification going forward. So we're understanding what their specs are and what they need and what their quantities are and what time frames. We're also talking to a couple of metal alloy potential manufacturers and the metal alloy manufacturing is certainly needed to ex China. So that's that's part of the downstream qualification as well on the upstream. You've heard the announcement with vital metals that we made October. We're working toward a definitive agreement with vital metals whereby they will provide us with feedstock going to what we're calling our Alaska strategic metals complex. One feedstock is not enough. So again under NDA, we have two other feedstocks that we're discussing with. One's a heavyware of the senotine approach and others a monocyte approach. And we're very close to getting deals together with those two companies again under NDA. I can't say a whole lot, but it's important to have multiple sources at the upstream and to have many customers or customer opportunities in the downstream. So we're focused on the middle part of this. Now that we've got upstream sources and downstream customers, we're focused on the middle and making sure the middle is very profitable. Making sure that that middle part where you separate to oxides has got the economics to deliver what you need to deliver on time consistent quality every day of the week. You know, in the automotive industry, what they're looking for, they're looking for a consistent price. And that's going to be a little challenging right now in the market because, you know, the prices are looking down all the time. Do you index a price? Do you try to fix a price? An automotive company would love to fix a price for the life of a five year vehicle. But as we've seen recently, I think December, the number was $45,000 MSRP for a vehicle in America, probably $10,000 more than what it was 18 months ago. So some of them make a lot of money. Anyhow, we're focused on that middle market jack. Our timing is that by, we've already started the engineering of a strategic metals complex, which is the pre-rapid SX and the post-rapid SX elements that make the whole supply chain or the processing part of the supply chain work. And we're targeting the end of 23 to have a commercial, end of 23 to have a commercial plant ready. Targeted for Alaska, but we're actually keeping options open because there's going to be more than one strategic metals complex needed if the X China job is to get done the way it needs to get done. In Q1 of this year right now, we're actually commissioning our commercial demonstration plant. That's happening in Kingston, Ontario. Gareth has the team totally dialed in. We've ordered all sorts of components and parts and that demonstration plant will be up and running in March. It'll be running a campaign over a five or six weeks with an Allied feedstock and will be reporting results on it. We also have an independent evaluation report that will be coming out in January, which was just a real smart way of us saying with all our downstream customers, you know, show me, don't tell me. So we've gone through the extra expense to get an independent evaluation done to make sure that part is understood to and that we're getting every element of our processing solidified. So timing Jack, yeah, we're excited by the commercial demonstration plant being commissioned right now for execution and testing in Q2 of 2022. We're engineering development of a strategic metals complex. We're kind of hand in glove actually with Jeff Acons over at Vital as well. Their plan in Saskatoon kind of works perfectly with our plan for ramp up. I have to say that I'm quiet, which is not my usual demeanor, because that's the first time I can remember hearing an actual experienced successful businessman talk about a business model in the rare earth space. I'm not going to, there are one or two others perhaps. I don't want to insult anybody but I think that's the most cogent description of a business plan for the rare earth space I've heard in a long, long time. And I have to commend you for bringing, let's say, North American rare earth industry into the 21st century. And in particular, I want everybody watching us to understand that selling to a global 1000 industry like OEM automotive is not simply a matter of calling them up and saying, Hey, I've got something you want. As Pat has discussed here, you need an awful lot of preparation. And the main thing is you need to show that you know what you're talking about. You can make the product to their specification, deliver it on time to the agreed price and that you've got enough money so that you don't need to piggyback on their purchase order to have your company go forward. Now, just just to wind this up, I believe you mentioned you founded a company 25 years ago, making manufactured parts for production parts for the automotive industry. Can you tell us what the sales of that company are today? Well, we're in the hundreds of millions. So it's not time. We're very, we're very specialty in our manufacturing. By that, I mean, if you're going to be a commodity RFQ house, then good luck. You fall into the challenge of trying to be the low cost competitor every day of the week. If, however, you're innovative and you're being almost niche boutique like in your approach to products that they need. Again, it's an automotive assembly company. So they're looking for really good suppliers to help them understand what their vehicles can have to enhance further. So we work in polymers, we work in laminates, meaning carpet and hard board and adhesives and non-adhesives and all sorts of molecular bonded structures. And all of those materials are custom designed to get a job done at a very competitive price. And so when you look at the rare earth market, there are different, even though we're speaking with automotive customers at the end of the trail, who want permanent magnets when they're electric motors, they each have a different specification on what they really want. So you almost need to look at your manufacturing plant, the way we've looked at our tier one auto company and say, you've got to develop customized supply chain dynamics that allow you to deliver specifically what that customer wants any day of the week. And you can't just, you know, it's not time to make the donuts to use an old expression. You've got to be very lean manufacturing in focus. You've got to be very centered on cost and profitability. You've got to look at developing a value add for the customer at the end of the day. So yeah, the experience I have in the automotive, Jack, certainly translates very well to what's happening in this rare earth critical metal industry. Thank you very much that you really clarified, I think for us, what's involved in actually creating a manufacturer part supplier to global industry. And it is not something that so many people just talk about it, and they make statements that can't be supported. And I think your your particular deep background in manufacturing business is a real plus for for your car. And I think you're on the road to another success in your life. Can I, can I request that once you've shown the plant in Kingston in May, could we do maybe a walkthrough or at least an interview with Barith and you about that? That's a great idea, Jack. Yeah, absolutely. It's a very impressive structure coming together. In fact, I think in the recent press release, the was a schematic and people might think, oh, what a nice artist rendition. It's not. It's actually a CAD model of all mechanical components that fit together to make that system work. And that's what's being built right now. So yeah, that's a great idea. Gareth and I would certainly be open to that. Okay, so you're going to let us know as how that when that plan is ready for a walkthrough. Absolutely. Okay, good. Well, thank thank you very much for the outline of your course future. And we're going to keep in touch and do this on a regular basis because I want everyone to see how a professional manager with with the record of success goes about creating a modern rare earth company in North America in the 21st century. Thanks very much. Thank you, Jack.