SIERRA BLANCA, TX, Sept. 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE ‒ Texas Mineral Resources Corp. (OTCQB: TMRC)
- DOE award is for potential value of $1 million [1]
- Project partners are Penn State University, Jeddo Coal and H22OS
- Full project plans production of 1-3 metric tons/day mixed rare earth oxides followed by final processing at USA Rare Earth facility
- Successful completion heralds potentially significant economic benefits to region
- Grant objective furthers effort to construct a complete U.S.-based REE supply chain
- Award is TMRC’s third U.S. Government grant
Texas Mineral Resources Corp. (“TMRC”), an exploration company which is developing its Round Top heavy rare earth critical minerals project along with its funding and development partner USA Rare Earth LLC, is pleased to announce that the Department of Energy (“DOE”)’s National Energy Technical Laboratory (“NETL”) has selected a Texas Mineral Resources-led consortium to receive an award targeting the production of rare earths from Pennsylvania coal byproducts.
TMRC’s project partners include Penn State, Jeddo Coal Company, and H22OS. The consortium’s objective is to ultimately install a self-contained, modular, and portable pilot plant at a Jeddo Coal Company site in Pennsylvania capable of producing 1-3 metric tons of rare earth oxides derived from coal byproducts from Pennsylvania anthracite coal. The project will commence October 1, 2020, with a three-month conceptual design phase and an ultimate objective of completing a design package (feasibility study) to prove the technical and economic feasibility for a facility capable of 1-3 metric tons/day production of mixed rare earth oxides. The full solicitation -- DOE Solicitation 89243320RFE000032: “Production of Mixed Rare Earth Oxides (REOs) or Rare Earth Salts (RESs) from Coal-Based Resources” – can be accessed at: https://www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fFedConnect%2f%3fdoc%3d89243320RFE000032%26agency%3dDOE&doc=89243320RFE000032&agency=DOE
“We are honored to see our submission selected for this award,” commented Anthony Marchese, Chairman of TMRC. “We believe that the technological strength and experience of our team goes a long way toward a positive result from this project. This grant is a significant step forward toward creating the first of these operations in the Pennsylvania region. The potential to profitably produce scandium and other rare earth minerals from Pennsylvania anthracite coal byproducts hold great promise. Creating value from byproducts is an environmental goal shared by all citizens, especially when considering the strategic nature of the minerals at hand. We are fully committed to work with local companies, capital sources, and public officials in order to create potentially meaningful economic opportunity for an industry and region, which for too long has been in a period of decline.”
“Penn State is excited to be partnering with TMRC, Jeddo Coal and H22OS to advance the science and technology of extraction of critical minerals from Pennsylvania coal byproducts,” said Lee Kump, John Leone Dean in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. “We see great opportunity ahead for the university, Commonwealth and nation to establish a domestic supply of rare earth and other critical elements while creating jobs and remediating associated environmental problems while producing strategically important materials for high-tech and defense applications.”
This is the third U.S. Government award relating to the production of rare earth minerals in which TMRC has participated. In 2016, TMRC announced it had successfully completed a demonstration-of-concept project funded by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Strategic Materials Division to separate and refine specific high-purity rare earth elements, using a continuous ion exchange (CIX) and continuous ion chromatography (CIC) processing method. In 2019, a consortium including Texas Mineral Resources consortium successfully completed a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy grant to produce multiple separated rare earth minerals from Pennsylvania coal mining waste material. The CIX/CIC method used in both U.S. Government grants is the method being used to process rare earths and additional U.S. Government-listed critical minerals from the Round Top (Sierra Blanca, TX) project, being developed by TMRC’s funding and development partner, USA Rare Earth, LLC.
Successful completion of the DOE grant is consistent with a commercial supply chain in which final separation of the mixed REE concentrate into individual high purity rare earth oxides would be accomplished at USA Rare Earth’s processing facility using CIX/CIC processing methodology.
About Texas Mineral Resources Corp.
Texas Mineral Resources Corp.'s focus has been to develop its Round Top heavy rare earth and industrial minerals project located in Hudspeth County, Texas, 85 miles east of El Paso along with its funding and development partner, USA Rare Earth LLC. . The Company plans on developing alternative sources of strategic minerals through the processing of coal waste and other related materials while also seeking investment opportunities in other precious metal projects The Company’s common stock trades on the OTCQB U.S. tier under the symbol “TMRC”.
Company Contact:
Texas Mineral Resources Corp.
Anthony Marchese, Chairman
E-mail: amarchese@tmrcorp.com