TORONTO, Oct. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Innovation Metals Corp. ("IMC" or "the Company") today announced the completion by GENIVAR Inc. ("GENIVAR"), the Company's engineering consultants, of a set of process flow diagrams ("PFDs") for the extraction and purification stages of IMC's future critical rare-earth element ("REE") separation facility (the "Facility"), to be located in Becancour, Quebec.
GENIVAR worked closely on this project with IMC's China-based REE separation consultants, an engineering group with extensive real-world expertise in REE separation facility design and operation. This work was undertaken as part of the prefeasibility study being conducted by GENIVAR for IMC.
Starting with a mixed REE carbonate feedstock, produced by blending individual feedstock received from various future REE producers, the process starts with an acid-leaching phase, to solubilize the REEs, followed by a cascade of separation stages based on solvent-extraction techniques. The result will be the formation of thirteen distinct high-purity rare-earth chloride products.
"This unique collaborative effort to develop the PFDs and associated mass-balance calculations for our Facility is ongoing," commented Gareth Hatch, President of IMC, "and is a critical part of IMC's strategy for the production of separated REEs in Quebec. Our two consulting groups are working closely together on the completion of the process-design work for the subsequent precipitation and calcination stages of the process to produce the final REE products."
Once completed, the full set of PFDs will be tested first at the bench scale, and subsequently in a pilot plant, to be constructed and operated in Quebec.
"Our announcement today marks an inflection point for the rare-earth industry outside of China," said Patrick Wong, CEO of IMC. "IMC is now one of very few companies outside of China with detailed quantitative designs for a critical REE separation plant. It will be the first centralized Facility of its kind available to future producers of critical REEs, for the development of marketable products by low-cost toll processing, and where end users can own separation capacity."
About Innovation Metals Corp.
Innovation Metals Corp. ("IMC") is a private Canadian-based company founded in 2011. IMC's goal is to alleviate the bottleneck that has formed in the rare-earth supply chain, through the creation of the world's first independent, centralized rare-earth separation facilities, to be located in Becancour, Quebec. The company intends to bridge the gap between producers and end users via the creation of a Consortium, through which it will provide low-cost material tolling programs to producers, and assuring security of supply for end users and sovereign governments. IMC is also developing innovative trading platforms, to further increase the opportunities within the rare-earth sector for traders.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains projections and statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States laws. Forward-looking statements in this release may include, among others, statements regarding the future plans, costs, objectives or performance of Innovation Metals Corp. ("IMC"), or the assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. In this news release, words such as "may", "could", "would", "will", "likely", "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "plan", "goal", "estimate" and similar words and the negative forms thereof are used to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are beyond IMC's control, and which may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of IMC to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties could cause actual results and IMC's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information. IMC can offer no assurance that its plans will be completed. These and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking information are based on estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. Except as required by law, IMC assumes no obligation to update forward-looking information should circumstances or management's estimates or opinions change.
Contact:
Mr. Patrick Wong, CEO
Innovation Metals Corp.
Telephone: +1-416-477-2412
Email: Email
Web: www.innovationmetals.com