IXR (ASX) General Chat / Discussion

Originally posted by Koproskilo: ↑

I have been trying to catch Brett for a while and managed to speak to him today.

Both he and Tim have been very busy, and although a little tired, still sounded upbeat.

I got lots of the usual rhetoric of speaking to many potential partners and interested parties.

This has ramped up in the last couple of weeks, no doubt connected to the attention the sector is receiving at the moment.

We spoke a little about the sector, VMM, LYC, MP et al, who are receiving some love at the moment.

The RE sector seems to be the hot sector in the markets, mostly buoyed by the tariff war and the penny finally dropping for the western powers on the direness of the situation, whether it be Starmer or Trump....refining....production...refining....

We all know this has been the issue all along...

So what's next Brett?

Back on the road again mate...

What so soon, seems like you guys just got back.

Yeah, next few days.

What no Easter?

Easter or no Easter, we need to be there early next week.

Back to the UK?

Yes for the first week.

And then?

Back to the US.

What again? The UK trips I am used to but, not these frequent US trips. weren't you there 4 weeks ago?

Yep, and heading back to Washington again....

(In my mind I am putting Makuutu, together, our announcement and Boulos' visit, sandwiched amongst 2 Washington visits. Remember, Makuutu's basket is around 45% heavies )

We talked a little about the increased interest in the States and that the Trump administration can be very unpredictable.

I asked him about Makuutu and how it may fit in, but of course he didn't say much, just overall general interest in Makuutu.

Then we talked about processing and refining, and he mentioned the renewed interest by many parties that it is a big problem in the West.

I said- You know we have it all, we have what they want. We have a resource, we have the tech, the IP, we can mine, we can recycle, we can process, we can basically give them any RE they want. We tick all the boxes...

It went quiet for a sec...

Then he said- Yes mate, I know, and now they know....

Who's they?

Ah, I better go mate, I have another meeting scheduled....

And that was it...

IMHO opinion, it is just confirming what we already know....

The west has finally realised they are screwed.
They have to act and act now.
They have to turn on every possible resource out of China they can get their hands on.
And they have to take every refining opportunity they are given, and get them into production.

THAT IS THE ONLY WAY.

We know it and now they know it....and they know about us...So although it was a brief conversation, it left me full of optimism and the continuing and ever strengthening its a matter of when not if feeling.

We tick every box and are after all-

The fastest, cheapest, greenest, most replicable and most scalable REO producer on the planet.

Make of this what you will, but as always, good luck everyone.
And I wish you a fantastic Easter, full of lots of food, lots of drinks and lots of love from your families...

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I keep thinking about that conversation with Brett and this post, Post #: 78735451

Those Stats from this post #: 78735451are Excellent, US government funding (DOE, DoD, DFC) often favors US companies or those with strong US-based partners and operations. Ionic, as a UK-based/Australian company, must demonstrate a clear US presence, ideally through a US subsidiary, joint venture, or technical/commercial partnerships with American firms, well at present we are in Partnership with FORD and as we know VAC (Vacuumschmelze) is building a major NdFeB magnet plant in Sumter, South Carolina, with a planned capacity of 1,500 tpa, opening in late 2025. This facility is supported by $111.9 million in US tax credits (IRA), Department of Defense funding.

1,500tpa of Sintered Magnets will be produced by VAC, the only problem is e-VAC Magnetics (the US subsidiary) will likely face significant challenges in securing raw materials:

Who's converting the REOs into Magnet Alloys for VAC to Convert to Sintered Permeant Magnets in the US? From the article above, very limited.

REO to Magnet Alloy ConversionFor its NdFeB magnet production in the US, VAC currently lacks a clear domestic partner for converting rare earth oxides (Nd, Pr, Dy, Tb) into the necessary magnet alloys. In contrast, VAC's European operations have established a defined circular supply chain.

As I have posted before, just one Commercial Plant in the US and a Process facility LCM in Sumter, South Carolina would make this happen Post #: 78735451,

The Commercial Plant in Belfast once Funded will be able to produce 400t of High Purity Separated Rare Earth Oxides

1. Less Common Metals (LCM) converts the REOs produced by Ionic Technologies into rare earth metals and magnet alloy, LCM can convert 400 tpa of REOs (350 tpa NdPr, 37 tpa Dy, 13 tpa Tb) into 340 tpa of rare earth metals (using 85% conversion efficiency)

2. These metals are then processed into 1,097 tpa of NdFeB alloy (31% rare earth content)

3. VAC then uses this alloy to produce approximately 4,800 tpa of sintered magnetsIn the US:

There is no equivalent to LCM yet operating at commercial scale to provide the necessary magnet alloys for VAC's Sumter facility

That's 4,800tpa of Sintered magnets, that's 3 times the amount!

Hopefully Tim and Brett if you are monitoring this, it demonstrates how a partnership with Ionic Technologies and an LCM equivalent could potentially solve this problem by creating a fully circular supply chain capable of recovering and utilizing the critical heavy rare earths (Dy and Tb) that are essential for high-performance magnets with e-VAC. Plus, we need to tie up all loose ends back in the UK and convert all MOU/Partnerships to Definitive/Off-take agreements, which would help for the US and e-VAC to fulfill their obligations of 1,500tpa of Sintered Permanent Magnets

“There is nothing wrong with dreaming, but there is everything wrong with dreaming without any intention to make the dream a reality.”