VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 26, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Medallion Resources Ltd. (TSX-V:MDL) (OTCPK:MLLOF) (“Medallion” or the “Company”), is pleased to report that, following its recent private placement financing, it has resumed its process development test-work to extract rare-earth elements (REE) from by-product monazite sand at the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC). Kurt Forrester PhD, a UK-based Chartered Chemical Engineer and Chartered Professional Metallurgist, with extensive experience in REE metallurgy, is managing SRC’s process development work for Medallion.
“The rare-earth magnet metals have seen a significant increase in prices driven by new energy demands. Our by-product monazite approach is ideal for near-term production with low capital costs,” said Don Lay, President and CEO. “We can quickly move forward with our flow-sheet optimization work because of our successful bench level test-work and on-hand commercial monazite feedstock.”
Medallion is pursuing production of REEs by sourcing and processing the by-product mineral monazite, which is rich in neodymium and praseodymium REEs (often shortened to NdPr). NdPr is the key input to powerful rare-earth magnets used in the drive trains of electric and hybrid vehicles, wind energy generation, robotics, and other clean energy applications.
Banking group UBS recently identified NdPr, along with battery materials lithium and cobalt, as the commodity inputs most positively affected by growing market demand for electric vehicles. Adamas Intelligence has estimated the value of global annual rare-earth oxides for the production of rare-earth permanent magnets totaled $1.44 billion in 2016. Adamas’ long-term forecast anticipates an increase in demand for the magnet-oriented, rare-earth oxides to $6.07 billion by 2025, representing a compound annual growth rate of 17.4%.
About Medallion Resources
Medallion Resources is developing an approach for low-cost, near-term, rare-earth element (REE) production by exploiting monazite. Monazite is a rare-earth phosphate mineral that is widely available as a by-product from mineral sand mining operations. REEs are critical inputs to electric and hybrid vehicles, electronics, imaging systems, wind turbines and strategic defense systems. Medallion is committed to following best practices and accepted international standards in all aspects of mineral transportation, processing and the safe management of waste materials. More about Medallion (TSX-V:MDL) (OTCPK:MLLOF) (Frankfurt:MRDN) can be found at medallionresources.com.
