We have demonstrated that RapidSX™ can process rare earth elements faster than conventional solvent extraction while achieving comparable or better purity and recovery, with a significantly smaller physical equipment footprint.
Approximately 7,400+ run-time hours at its RapidSX™ Commercialization and Demonstration Facility as part of its Louisiana SMC scale-up work.
Ucore’s optimized Louisiana SMC plan targets an overall throughput capacity of approximately 9,600 tpa TREO, with strategic plans underway for commissioning, qualification, funding, and permitting.
RapidSX™ separates mixed rare earth feedstocks into separated rare earth products and intermediates. In simple terms, it takes mixed rare earth material, such as mixed rare earth oxide or mixed rare earth carbonate, and processes it through a proprietary system to separate valuable rare earth elements into more refined product streams.
The technology is designed for both light and heavy rare earth elements, which are used in applications such as permanent magnets, electric vehicles, robotics, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and defense-related supply chains.
Yes. RapidSX™ uses the same proven chemistry as conventional solvent extraction, but it changes how that chemistry is delivered. Traditional solvent extraction plants typically use large electrically driven mixer-settler tanks. RapidSX™ replaces those bulky tanks with compact contactor columns and phase separators.
This column-based design allows aqueous and organic solutions to interact efficiently without relying on the same large powered mixing tanks used in conventional systems. The result is a more compact and streamlined approach to rare earth separation.
Rare earth separation is one of the most important middle steps in the rare earth supply chain. Mining produces rare earth-bearing material, but that material must be separated into usable rare earth products before it can support magnet manufacturing and other advanced industries.
RapidSX™ is important because Ucore is positioning it as a North American rare earth separation platform. The goal is to help build an alternative supply chain for separated rare earth products, especially for industries that need secure access to magnet-critical materials. Ucore has connected the technology directly to its plan for the Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex in Alexandria, Louisiana.
Yes. Ucore has operated RapidSX™ at its Commercialization and Demonstration Facility in Kingston, Ontario. The facility includes a 52-stage RapidSX™ Commercial Demonstration Plant, which has been used to process mixed light and heavy rare earth feedstocks in a simulated commercial environment.
Ucore reported that Phase 1 demonstration work produced approximately 7,400 hours of RapidSX™ Demo Plant run time, thousands of liters of rare earth chloride products, and more than 16,000 recovery and purity comparison points against conventional solvent extraction.
Ucore’s first planned commercial deployment for RapidSX™ is the Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex, also called the Louisiana SMC, in Alexandria, Louisiana. The Kingston demonstration facility is being used as a scale-up, commercialization, and technology transfer platform for the Louisiana project.
RapidSX™ works by applying solvent extraction chemistry through a column-based system. Mixed rare earth feedstock is processed through stages that separate specific rare earth elements or groups of elements. The process uses the standard solvent extraction steps of extraction, scrubbing, stripping, washing, and neutralization.
The key difference is the physical design. RapidSX™ uses contactor columns and phase separators to move and separate the liquid phases efficiently. Ucore says this design makes the system readily reconfigurable for different rare earth feedstocks while using the same core equipment
RapidSX™ is designed to offer faster processing, a smaller equipment footprint, modular scale-up, feedstock flexibility, and lower capital and operating cost potential compared with a conventional solvent extraction plant of similar capacity.
RapidSX™ is designed to process a variety of light and heavy rare earth feedstocks. Ucore has referenced mixed rare earth oxide and mixed rare earth carbonate feedstocks, and its Kingston facility has worked with material from sources including monazite, bastnaesite, ionic clays, and xenotime.
This feedstock flexibility is important because a commercial rare earth separation facility may need to qualify and process material from multiple Western-aligned suppliers.
RapidSX™ is designed to produce separated rare earth products and intermediates. During Phase 1 work, Ucore reported production of praseodymium-neodymium, samarium-europium-gadolinium, samarium, gadolinium, terbium, and dysprosium chloride products, along with small batch amounts of oxide products.
These materials are important because several of them are tied to permanent magnet supply chains, high-temperature magnet performance, clean energy, EVs, robotics, and defense-related applications.
RapidSX™ demonstration work is intended to help produce rare earth products that can be tested against customer and OEM specifications.
At the Kingston CDF, Ucore has also developed batch-level rare earth oxide production from generated rare earth chlorides. This matters because customer qualification often requires actual product samples, not just theoretical process results.
RapidSX™ is designed around modular process lines. That means the technology can be configured in stages rather than relying on one fixed, oversized plant design from the beginning. Ucore describes RapidSX™ as modular and scalable, with process lines that could support future production capacity, partnerships, and licensing opportunities.
This modular design also supports commercial scale-up from Kingston to Louisiana, where Ucore intends to use demonstration results, operating data, and process improvements to support deployment at its first commercial rare earth separation facility.