 Well, hello, everyone. This is Byron King with Investor Intel, and we are talking today with Pat Ryan of UCOR Rare Metals. It's in the rare earth business, but more than that, many people think rare earth, so yeah, that's mining. Pat has a different approach to it. It's taking these exotic elements, these rare earth elements all the way, way, way down into the value chain and capturing value through UCOR. Pat's coming to us from Halifax, Nova Scotia today, but his travel schedule takes him all over the place because he's got quite a portfolio that he handles within the context of his company. So hello, Pat. Thank you for being here. Byron, how are you doing? It's great to see you. It's great to talk. Thank you, sir. For people who are perhaps not familiar with UCOR or perhaps who heard the name some years ago, but have been sort of hibernating for the last two years of COVID and are now coming up like a proverbial groundhog to see their shadow. Give us a quick download on UCOR. What is the company doing now? Where do you stand? Yeah, sure. We've had an interesting couple of years. As you look at the 21st century energy transition, electric vehicles, you hear about it all the time. It's all over the place, billions and billions of dollars being invested by the Detroit 3 and Japanese 3 and the Europeans and whatnot. You have renewable energy, offshore wind, a big opportunity for Mother Earth to do things right going forward, get away from burning fossil fuels ongoing. Burning of fossil fuels, of course, is creating a climate change. It's all over the place. We see the effects everywhere. And we've never stopped putting that CO2 into the air in the air. The automotive company certainly decided a few years back that they would move towards an electrification plan because that does reduce the CO2 template and it's needed for Mother Earth. So UCOR has been fixated on the rare earth side. We became involved in 2010 with a project we can talk about shortly. I'm sure you'll ask me. It's a heavy rare earth project in Alaska. But we realized that the quick to market for rare earth oxides is what's needed. Rare earth oxides are the component that is not manufactured, produced in North America today. 90% of that oxide production happens in China. 95% of permanent magnets that are made from those rare earth oxides have turned into metals and alloys and then the magnets are are all China centric and the importance there is that these rare earths are used to drive all kinds of things from the cell phones that you have to missile defense systems, your hard drive and your computer and electric vehicles with the electric motors. So we've determined that the very best opportunity right now is to get into the rare earth oxide. That's the middle of the market. That's the middle market that China has taken away and the way to get to that middle market is to have upstream where you have feedstocks coming in that are allied with the US and not Chinese in nature. You have to have technology in that middle market and that by the way, that middle market, that's where you make the money. That's where the margin is in producing the oxides and then downstream you've got to be able to feed it to the magnet makers. You've got to feed it to the automotive companies ultimately and people like General Electric that have no large offshore wind turbines. How they had X I believe is as tall as the Eiffel Tower. All of it is driven by rare earth. So prices are up. Supply demand is in balance. National security is at risk. A lot of internal combustion engine jobs are at risk and you of course mandate is to get those oxides back to North America. Well that's a terrific summary of sort of the broad picture. For people who are not familiar with Pat, don't let me embarrass you Mr. Ryan, but you are not a mining guy. You are more of a manufacturing guy from the auto side of the arena. You've had quite a bit of experience in the automotive sector in terms of dealing as a supplier to the GMs, the Fords, the Nissans, the big companies of the world. Can you explain why it is that, what's your focus in that? How do you take the focus from the auto sector and turn that into the rarer sector? Yeah great question. Yes I did found a tier one automotive company 28 years ago now and the tier one is the most complex and the most intricate company in the supply chain for the automotive industry. You have terms like FEMA, failure mode effect analysis and DVP and our design verification plan and reports. All of these are meant to foolproof your process and make sure that you're delivering spec product on time when you need it at a predetermined price and keep it all in balance. As the last several years of my career I could see the shift towards electrification. Just last week Toyota Motor Sales announced that they were going to invest $70 billion such that by the end of the decade they would have 3.5 million electric vehicles out of their 10 million electric vehicle portfolio. Gentle Motors investing billions of dollars for Motor Company billions of dollars. All of them looking to take advantage of the electrification trend again protecting Mother Earth, getting away from fossil fuels. So the difference today with the automotive companies is that they now have to look at their supply chain where they could once go to a tier one and say I would like some seats, a headline or an engine, a transmission or whatever, bring it to their automotive assembly plant and assemble it and then go marketing crazy and sell it. Now they've got to look at their supply chains and go you know what we've got to go right back to the source. We in fact have to go right back to the mine and that's interesting to me because now you're developing a whole metallic need supply chain and you do have to look right back at the mine. Henry Ford was all about vertical integration. He tried to secure iron and he tried to secure rubber and those were all for his plans going forward and Ford Motor Company is right back there again saying we need to go right to the mine. People like BMW are not taking chances they're going right back to the mine. So the supply chain two, three, four, five tiers down below the tier one are now becoming an investment that's necessary for the automotive company and that's pretty exciting and an opportune spot for UCOR to be at this particular juncture. Well you know as an outsider looking in here it strikes me that you know whereas in most of the time when I as an interviewer, as a geologist, as an overseer of the space, when I look at the rare earth companies it's a mining guy and it's like okay we're going to mine some rock we're going to bring it out of the ground we're going to crush it no concentrate we're going to sell it and now but it's not that I mean UCOR owns or has or controls a mineral deposit in Alaska offshore of Ketchikan on Prince Wales Island called Dotson Ridge and here's a piece of ore from it which I picked up at a visit some years ago. This is a beautiful piece of high grade super high grade or heavy rare earths contained there and you control that but in a sense where you're taking the company right now you're going to leave this in the ground for a while and you're going to concentrate on the downstream you're going to get your concentrate elsewhere and process it is that a fair way to summarize what you're doing? That's a very good summary you know as you know Byron had to get a mine up and running and permanent it and everything you know in place it can take several years now the American government is you know they're making moves lately to shorten that time frame because it's needed it's needed for national security it's needed to protect American jobs but the quicker to market way to get the job done is to actually get allied feedstocks now so chemical concentrate we have two deals that we announced in the last six months ones with vital metals they have an up and running rare earth mine in the Northwest Territories they have a hydromet plant in Saskatchewan that's just coming online and we have an MOU with them we're working towards a definitive agreement to bring some of that concentrate into what we call a strategic metals complex and that's a processing plant to produce the rare earth oxides. We also announced just last week a deal with Teeson Group of Germany they too have tentacles all over the world and they have access to chemical concentrates where earth and nature that we're working towards a definitive agreement to bring that particular material into our strategic metals complex. The first strategic metals complex is planned for southeast Alaska, Ketchikan area and the reason that we're doing that is that's got proximity to the the mine it's within 20 miles of the mine site the one you just mentioned the Volcan mine and that Volcan mine as you know is the per NIN 43-101 it's the highest grade of heavier earth on American soil. Heavier earth is needed in those permanent magnets that drive those permanent magnets synchronous motors you have NDPR which are the lights and dysprosium and terbium which are the heavies and amongst all of them they create the mix that gets the job done so if you're going to get it done in a timely fashion and beat the you know one belt one road from China or the made in China 2025 policies you've got to move quickly so our plan to have that first strategic metals complex with allied feedstocks using some pretty unique technology fire and is planned for 2024 and that will serve a lot of customers that need product today. So oh man you've really you've opened an entire book here it's going to be really hard to to kind of you know pick and choose what to what to discuss for the viewers and the listeners out there but so you're in Alaska which everybody thinks of Alaska oil Alaska pipeline but they're transitioning out of that oil royalty mode and you've actually got support from the government of Alaska where you know you're working with the government of Alaska let's not you know put carts before carts before the horse but Ketchikan if people don't know they're you know here's Alaska here's the Panhandle Ketchikan is the very southernmost town there on the on the Panhandle on the Canadian side there and so it's it's a cruise cruise ship stop but more than that it happens to be near the the Bocan mine so so can you talk about your relationship with Alaska and what what what are the alaskan government going to do with you for you? Sure yeah we we we're close and you're right the transition from the portfolio or the the bolstering of the portfolio which has typically been oil and gas for Alaska now they're looking at critical metals they realize that that's the future and they need to be involved in any way they can so we've had support directly from Governor Dunleavy by by means of you know whatever you want to get done the state will support you to move in that direction in his toolbox he has ADA the alaska industrial development export authority we've been working with ADA for the past year and they've put forth a couple of term sheets back and forth we're under NDA we want to make sure we do what's best for UCORP but the support is there from Alaska you have senators Mikowski and Senator Sullivan who are very vocal in Washington about their need to transition Alaska to these new critical metals that drive the future and they too have put forth a different appropriation request that are channeled back to UCORP and its initiatives in Alaska so I'm not putting all the detail on the table there is for Bocan as you probably know Byron a hundred forty five million hundred forty five million dollar bond conduit bond approval by the state and that will that will help when the mine eventually gets up and running again I just had that that area has previously been mined decades ago for there's a uranium site there as well which that's not your issue but it's a uranium site that has was mined long ago so there's there there's a history of mining in that vicinity now when you talk about putting together a facility can you can you explain to the viewers and the listeners out there you know you about your technology you have the technology that works and in fact you just put out a press release on it that had to do with an accelerated version of solvent extraction that that has quite remarkable kinetics in terms of chemistry which you know which really drives the you know helps to drive your costs down and the inputs down and make it make it you know make it profitable and you're able to move into that very highly competitive automobile supply chain with a with a price competitive product can you talk about what your what your process is there in the facility that you plan to build yeah certainly a good point you know my my success in the automotive industry has always been about automation lean manufacturing which means keep everything close and proximity don't touch things too many times the kaizen continuous improvement work cell mentality scalable modular so you're not you know biting off a huge trunk and saying gee I hope this plant works you've got to start small and scale up so the the company that we purchased in may of 2020 was called innovation metals corp they had a very unique technology they have a very unique technology called rapid sx or essentially rapid solvent extraction at your point the only process used in the world today to separate rare earths and purify rare earths is solvent extraction but it's a very slow cumbersome process it uses mixers and settlers and it's got literally football fields of size in order to get to equilibrium and then finally separate out the rare earth elements the proprietary technology we have instead of a the chemistry is the same so the savory agents the same extractants the same assets are all the same and and the reason that's important is that your technological scale up your technological certainly is much more sure because you're using same chemistry proven chemistry you're not venturing into a world of nanotech or something that still needs some years to prove out you're already there so that that's good so chemistry is the same but rather than a mixer settler you have a column system and the column is packed with a proprietary media and we've got a couple of really cool slick secretive things that allow for the operating time to be shortened considerably so the the what can take weeks to get to equilibrium and a solvent extraction plant is literally within days sometimes hours that's very key and the key is that your throughput of the plant is going to be much greater with a greater throughput you're you're tied up inventory which can be very expensive and the millions of dollars in chemical concentrates where your your inventory is very much reduced your your working capital is reduced your capex is reduced because the footprint for the plant is much smaller it could be in a magnitude of what we've discovered where we are now with some in the order of 60 less than what a solvent extraction plant can be you still have the same front end in the back end but the actual separation and purification is considerably reduced so you've got a very unique technology based on chemistry principles are the same that give you a much quicker equilibrium that give you a separation factors that are better extraction rates that are better so you're westernizing it you're taking a process used in china and you're saying you know what let's make this good for westernized activity it's more esg compliant byron because you're going to use less agents less reactants less acids and all of it's in a closed loop and we're working with people like mech can who are big on on acid recycling they're big on wastewater treatment all the things that go into making a smart facility and it's scalable and modular so our plans in Alaska are start with a 2,000 ton maybe 2,500 ton plan they grow it to 5,000 ton we will look at smc number one two and three not necessarily all in alaska but alaska will be a key point and then we'll look at others and the reason being that the market is so huge you know three billion dollars of rarethoxides in 2021 becomes by the end of the decade according to atomist intelligence 15.7 billion dollars so you can scale up and build these strategic metals complex that do not exist in north america today and are needed to bring this back home to um for national security and esg and all the climate change reasons and to protect those eb jobs and and and it you know and the idea that it's the automotive industry that's your customer i mean you know they produce things in terms of millions and tens of millions you know of units and you know even even a pound or two or a couple of kilograms here a couple kilograms there times 10 million you're talking a lot of a lot of kilos and a lot of tons uh and and so uh and so you mentioned a complex two a complex three this is this is the kind of thing that let's clarify for the listeners and readers or viewers out there that there could be several of these stationed around north america feeding different clusters of auto auto auto making or parts making things like that yeah absolutely uh you know alaska because of its excuse me proximity to bocan makes sense so when the mind eventually gets up and running then we're in good form and by the way bocan there's a summer program going on they're doing more channel sampling and the intent is to get to 20 percent measured by the end of the summer uh so that's moving towards you know opening the mind the mind economics are actually in the black right now uh there are co-products that that help that along but we don't even need the co-products currently because of the price of uh rare earth and and where it's going but yeah strategic metals complex number two for example could be on the gulf coast why the gulf coast because chemicals and reagents and all that that industry is in the gulf region and therefore your your economics are perhaps improved in that particular area but there could be other opportunities in canada to help the north american footprint as well and we're looking at all of those things right now we got very very you know deep intricate models that consider everything from you know why southeast alaska first why the gulf second why somewhere else third and it all makes um it all makes good sense for what the market needs and you mentioned the dollars in a vehicle you know the the average msrp for a an internal combustion engine just recently was 43 000 dollars unbelievable but that's what it's been and uh when you get to rare earth currently the rare earth oxides are both 240 dollars in a vehicle uh in that electric motors they win the permanent magnets that electric motor that create that that synchronous speed that allows the battery to take you further and range is always an issue but that 240 dollars by the end of the decade um the anticipation is that 32 million vehicles out of the global production of about 90 million vehicles will be electric that 32 million times 240 dollars is 7.7 billion dollars in rare earth oxides now i think there was a report that came up from adamus just recently that said the projection brand dpr alone by the end of the decade might be 230 dollars per kilogram that takes that 7.7 and moves to 12 billion dollars i don't know where it lands but it it's certainly a big market and it's needed to drive electrification let let's not forget offshore wind as well and that's a big part too oh there's so many other applications it's it's just astonishing you know we're we're coming to the end of of what we wanted to do in terms of time so let's let's wrap it up quickly uh to the viewers out there first of all ucor has a website and it's a very good website with lots of links and lots of information uh they have presentation on there it's a great presentation i you should you should see it uh pat tell us tell us a little bit about the corp the structure of ucor stock wise market cap wise uh you trade in the us and on canadian exchanges of course but tell us what what what's the company look like shareholder wise now we've got a little less than 50 million shares outstanding right now which is a good number it's very tight and compact about about 20 percent of that is insider activity the the go forward plan is to find non-dilutive financing there are a number of government programs that we're looking at to access the department of energy has a very good long-term load program with actually interest rates below treasury rates that are meant to excite the whole electrification or renewable resource industry and so we're been working with DOE to take a look at that particular side of it the whole idea is to continue to try to be as non-dilutive as we can as we get to um to revenue you know the this rare earth industry byron as you know uh the discussion you know in 2010 was hey let's make a mental concentrate and open up a mind well okay good luck that's a long time frame now you need a short time frame and you have to get to revenue when you get to revenue everything changes because now you're generating your own cash your own support systems and you're able to grow from there so it's a very tight structure and we're positioned well to grow from here well that's a great way to wrap it up pat thank you so much for your time we wish you well we wish you core well we certainly wish you know the automakers you know successes they do their electrification the viewers and listeners out there it's you core rare metals they they they own one of the highest grade deposits in north america i hold a piece of it in my hand here i have been to site i'll add editorially this is my geological hat on that what they have in their 43-101 is a fraction of what is probably out there you know on the other side of the tree line where they didn't drill and they didn't do the you know channel sampling and the drilling that's that's me talking that's not pat talking i'll put words in your mouth so that's a great deposit but you are also focusing right now on moving a process into revenue you're going to buy concentrate from others tees and crook part of them big company vital metals part of them too and others out there probably as things evolve and you're going to make some money and be in business let's show boy can't beat that nice tight share structure so everybody out there that's your story on you core pat ryan thank you so much for your time and i know that you have many other things to do because we were talking offline and you're a busy guy who gets around so so again good luck to you safe travels thank you ryan