Quantum CEO urges U.S. to counter China’s rare earth strategy; Nebraska site helps secure America’s rare earth metals needs

While Dickie applauded the efforts of leaders in Congress on rare earth issues such as Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO), he urged the U.S. government as a whole to take comprehensive, strategic steps to develop and produce domestic sources of rare earths and to stockpile these key materials.

“China has had a coordinated rare earth strategy for many years,” Dickie said. “The U.S. must respond or risk becoming so far behind the curve that it’s impossible to catch up.”

In addition to what may prove to be the world’s largest deposit of niobium, which has a range of strategic industrial uses, including high-strength steel, high-strength alloys in fighter planes and natural gas pipelines, Quantum has determined that its 14-square mile site at Elk Creek, Nebraska also contains four primary rare earth elements: lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium and neodymium.

“With millions of Americans unemployed, the news is full of reports declaring that the U.S. must rebuild its manufacturing industries to put people back to work at good jobs,” Dickie said. “The materials at Elk Creek present the opportunity for the U.S. to put people to work in mining, processing, and in manufacturing sophisticated products, all while enhancing national security,” he added.

As examples of the kind of jobs that can be created, the diverse technologies and products that use the niobium and rare earth elements at Quantum’s site:

• Niobium – High Strength Low Alloy Steel, for construction, automotive, gas pipelines, steel alloys for magnets, MRI machines, specialty aeronautical applications;
• Lanthanum — High refractive index glass, flint, hydrogen storage, battery-electrodes, camera lenses, fluid catalytic cracking a catalyst in oil refinering;
• Cerium — A chemical oxidizing agent, polishing powder, producing yellow colors in glass and ceramics, a catalyst for self-cleaning ovens, fluid catalytic cracking catalyst for oil refineries;
• Praseodymium — Rare-earth magnets, lasers, core material for carbon arc lighting, colorant in glasses and enamels, additive in didymium glass used in welding goggles, flint products;
• Neodymium — Rare-earth magnets, lasers, violet colors in glass and ceramics, ceramic capacitors.

Quantum Rare Earth Developments Corp., based in Vancouver, British Columbia, is an exploration company with a focus on seeking out potentially economic deposits of Niobium and Rare Earth Elements (REE) in North America and elsewhere in the world. Quantum has a strong management team developing the Elk Creek Carbonatite property, a project with a large NI43-101 compliant Niobium resource as well as substantial drill intercepts of Rare Earth Elements.

On Behalf of the Board,

Peter Dickie, President, CEO

Cautionary note: This report may contain forward looking statements, particularly those regarding cash flow, capital expenditures and investment plans. Resource estimates, unless specifically noted, are considered speculative. The company has filed a National Instrument 43-101 report on the Archie Lake property, on the Elk Creek Carbonatite property, and intends to file additional NI 43-101 reports on additional properties as soon as the information is available. Any and all other resource or reserve estimates are historical in nature, and should not be relied upon. By their nature, forward looking statements involve risk and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on factors that will or may occur in the future. Actual results may vary depending upon exploration activities, industry production, commodity demand and pricing, currency exchange rates, and, but not limited to, general economic factors. Cautionary Note to US investors: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission specifically prohibits the use of certain terms, such as “reserves” unless such figures are based upon actual production or formation tests and can be shown to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions.