 So here we are today. We've got the finale on how to actually build a supply chain in North America We're taking on a very complicated topic and one that we've yet to see the media cover properly So we're going to do it ourselves gentlemen we have of course the the gentleman who coined the term technology metals jacklifton and Alistair of course you're one of the top rare earth experts with over 25 years of experience and you've worked a Great deal in China for instance, correct Yeah, actually live there, too Fantastic, okay, so here's where we're at. We're now at the point where we're taking the Metals and we're turning them into magnets, which is stage six, which is why no one can really follow this story in the media Because there's so many stages. All right Alistair let's start with you. Do we have anyone in the United States who is currently taking these alloys and turning them into magnets? When it comes to neodymium iron boron, no They may buy some of the larger blocks from say Japan and then slice and dice them into smaller magnets, but that would be about the only Quote manufacturing that is done stateside and Jack. What about less common metals? What about them? Well, let's go. Those are British company. Okay They they are making alloy, but I think most of the alloy they make a Sumerian cobalt, I believe No, they're working on neodymium iron boron. They actually have set up to neodymium metal furnaces That are similar to what is used in China But they've had to put in all the environmental safety standards to be able to do that So they are doing that as well as Sumerian cobalt But their challenge is accessing competitively the neodymium oxide, right? So so let me just understand in order to to achieve the sustainability model I think Jack you should actually define what it is the US military defines as Achieving or meeting their sustainability criteria. They they don't want anywhere with permanent magnet aspect Done in China. In other words, the only thing they'll accept from China is the raw material the unfinished or Which is what the Chinese do not export So there's nothing they can get from China They admit that if they have to buy or from China and China would sell it they would do it but they want the extraction separation metal and alloy making and magnet making all done either in the United States Domestically or in NATO or CETO ally countries And of course, what do we do then Jack when we have mountain pass for instance having, you know One of the major shareholders now. Are they not the Chinese? Yes, okay, so how does this affect their criteria? well, they are not willing to accept material for mountain pass because of the The percentage it's less than 10% MP says is owned by shenghi industries Which is a vertically integrated magnet supplier actually so they don't want any they don't want Material from mountain pass at this point. Well, will they take for instance where earths found in, you know, Romania the actual Initial point. No, it doesn't actually find it on the American soil or kid No, no it can be Canadian or Australian also and of course Alistair. I'd love to hear your points on this Yeah, I think There's obviously Canada is now proactively looking into the critical materials of the Next decade or so and have initiated to study By rascals in London and when it comes to Australia, they're actually more proactive They've set up an R&D Centers, I believe and they're also talking about Low interest loan funding from the government to get some of these critical material projects off the ground. So You know Hopefully Canada can step forward a little bit more proactively in the future I know they're talking with Europe more than they are I think the US at the stage of development. Well, we get a lot of visitors for France for instance, okay Final question in this stage Alistair. What was the seventh one? That's where you actually take the magnet the magnet Yeah, and then you turn it into a motor or some other Like for MRIs you would use the magnet wind turbines also for Some of the others it's mostly the motors that would have to be assembled Even hard disk drives for computers and so forth. So the assembly of components Is something that needs to be done in the US to get you know more of the value You're basically trying to do what China has done over the last two decades and that is proactively bring the value added chain into their backyard So Jack what what can we do? Could we actually find one company to simplify this process to do all of the seven stages? So is this just to know comprehensible what you just said is the dream of the US Defense Department They would like a major Corporation to take over the management of the of the recreation of a North American or at least domestic American and Allied countries supply chain and so the problem they have is that they would like a Northrop or a general atomics or Halliburton somebody with with experience in building plants And in managing things the way the US Defense Department works it buys from systems integrators Let me tell you what that means When when people say the United States Defense Department buys an F-35 fighter plane, that's true But they what they buy that let's say from Northrop Northrop is called the systems integrator It is responsible for buying all of the things you need to build that plane It doesn't make all those things certainly Northrop doesn't make aluminum steel titanium where it's etc They're looking for somebody like that to manage a system the answer They're getting is a uniform resounding no Because there's no profit in it for these companies that are multi-billion dollars a month revenue They're saying so what's this rare earth industry for the for the military worth the answer is Maybe a hundred million dollars a year and it would require a couple of hundred million dollars to build the supply chain without a mind Nobody's gonna do it. They everybody says no So right now they're trying to figure out how to do it and what they can do. That's the problem Sorry Alistair. I got a redirect back at Jack here. Okay, but at the beginning of this conversation And this is my holiday greetings to investor Intel Audience members once and for all three of us are gonna solve this problem and this interview series We all three of us said that this problem needs to be addressed and we need to provide a solution But you just explained why nobody will do it So how do we talk somebody into doing this? Well, that's not actually what's happened is the answers is real simple for the defense department They can offer this on a cost-plus basis just like they've done For their entire history if they would say to a company. All right, whatever it cost you Per kilogram. Let's say or whatever to deliver Well, you add 10 20 30 percent of that and that's what we'll pay Of course, then they want to see the books. That's a problem. But That that's one way. The other way is for private equity To take a hard look at this and try and get a larger Market than the military, which is actually only less than 10% of the American market for magnets The real markets the consumer economy, but the consumer economy doesn't buy magnets They buy assemblies they buy devices they buy components that have rare earth magnets It's a big challenge now I can tell you this a lot of people are looking at this right now a lot of private Equity people are looking at this. There's a chance. They might do it There's even a chance the defense department might decide, okay Let's do it cost-plus and try and find somebody or maybe they have but there's a lot going on But the wheels of government grind very very slow Okay, so they yell and scream about you've got to do this right away and The Department of the Army has a solicitation do next Monday for heavy rare earth separation And they're asking for a 10-year plan Guarantee you that people like Linus will be submitting on that And Alistair I would like you just to sum all of this up in this particular series And don't worry everybody out there an investor into a land. We're going to be doing more of these Can you just provide what recommendation you would like to give? For us to actually achieve this goal, of course To achieve this goal is going to take a couple of different skill sets It's one set of skills to get something out of the ground and turn it into a separated oxide and That that is completely different than Metalization and alloy production and then getting into the assembly So you've basically got three different types of industries that need to be managed And I think that's where you're going to have to have someone with a vision To be able to bring that type of team together to be able to manage such a diverse set of skills Okay, that's true on that note. Thank you both. We'd like to say happy holidays and we'll discuss these visionaries in the future Thank you, Jack, and thank you Alistair Welcome. You're welcome