Ionic Rare Earths Limited (ASX: IXR) has successfully completed due diligence on the acquisition of 100% of Seren Technologies Limited.
In early December 2021, Ionic Rare Earths entered into a binding term sheet for the acquisition of SerenTech, a private UK company with unique and leading-edge rare earth separation and refining technology.
Following the comprehensive due diligence, a Share Purchase agreement (SPA) has been executed with completion pending regulatory approval from the UK Investment Security Unit (ISU).
SerenTech is commercialising technology using ionic liquids for separation and refining of rare earth elements (REE), which includes the full cohort of the proposed basket from Ionic’s Makuutu project in Uganda, consisting of the lanthanides series, Lanthanum (La), to Lutetium (Lu), plus Scandium (Sc) and Yttrium (Y).
Ionic’s Managing Director, Tim Harrison, said the acquisition of SerenTech, which will be based in Belfast, UK, greatly complements his company’s strategy of becoming a vertically integrated participant in the formation of new magnet and heavy rare earth supply chains emerging across Europe and North America.
“The due diligence process has confirmed the potential for the technology to be very value accretive for Ionic in its ability to help unlock the downstream value of the Makuutu basket plus also move swiftly on magnet recycling potential across Europe, the UK and the US,” Mr Harison said.
“Preliminary test work has confirmed high separation factors at more moderate pH conditions compared to alternative options for REE separation, along with recent enhancements in the magnet recycling flowsheet which will potentially further improve the commercial attractiveness of the technology.
“A new pilot plant programme is planned to commence in Q2 2022 which will feed into the next phase of validation prior to a potential demonstration plant later in 2022.
“Additionally, the vompany plans to initiate a new engineering study on the magnet recycling project to revise the prior 2018 study up to 2022 basis to confirm expected operational and capital cost estimates to feed into commercialisation plans.
“The team at SerenTech has identified a number of potential opportunities to move rapidly in the scale up from demonstration to commercial development of the technology for magnet recycling, which will now be explored with key supply chain stakeholders.
“Initial discussions with potential industry participants have identified significant interest to take advantage of SerenTech’s hydrometallurgical magnet recycling technology for the extraction and refining of magnet rare earths for use in new high specification magnets.
“Finally, the acquisition of SerenTech provides IonicRE with an inhouse test work capability to execute new test work programmes which is expected to complement the development of IonicRE’s refinery flowsheet.
“The IonicRE team has been engaging with the SerenTech team to map out next steps to help validation of key process chemistry and design criteria inputs for the Refinery Scoping Study.”
SerenTech Overview
The acquisition of SerenTech delivers Ionic with an immediate rare earth separation and refining capability to target high purity rare earth products. Most attractive is the demonstrated capability to recycle NdFeB magnets via extraction of the individual REE content to produce high purity (99.9%) rare earth oxide (REO) products, which we expect will provide a step change to magnet recycling appeal globally.
SerenTech has demonstrated capability to separate magnet rare earths Neodymium (Nd), Praseodymium (Pr), Dysprosium (Dy) and Terbium (Tb) for modest capital requirements.
This presents an opportunity for targeted deployment in key markets in the US, Europe, and Asia where existing inventories of magnets exist and where the current recycling technology fails to be able to achieve similar REE extraction results, thus providing a step change advantage and the ability to take an early mover position in new NdPr supply.
SerenTech has an exclusive “patent and know-how” licence from Queens University Belfast (QUB) allowing it to develop and commercialise the technology.
Additionally, SerenTech has also developed know-how in this area and lodged a further four global patents, providing a pipeline of opportunities in which to deploy the technology. The application of SerenTech patented technology has achieved separated and refined products to high purity with REO grades above 99.9% demonstrated at pilot scale in two key applications;
• Mining ore concentrate: the pilot scale plant has processed concentrate received from supply chain stake holders and achieved separation of REEs; and
• Permanent magnet (Neodymium-Iron-Boron, NdFeB) recycling: the pilot scale plant has processed spent permanent magnets received from supply chain stake holders and achieved extraction of recycled rare earth oxides at purity 99.9% plus.
This technology has the potential to be applied to other critical raw materials.
For further information please visit: https://ionicre.com.au/
