Commerce Resources Corp. reported that, further to its news release dated October 27, 2022, where it announced a successful scale-up of its process flowsheet to kilogram quantities of mixed rare earth carbonate, it has produced additional amounts of mixed REC concentrate to satisfy third-party sample requests. A 0.43 kg sample of mixed REC, with an NdPr distribution of 21.1% and TbDy distribution of 0.82%, has been shipped to an emerging processor of rare earth elements located outside of China.

The sample meets typical market specifications and was produced through processing of feed material generated from its prior pilot plant operations on bulk sample material collected from the Ashram Rare Earth and Fluorspar Deposit. The mixed REC sample grades approximately 63% REO with <0.1 ppm Th and <0.1 ppm U. The strong NdPr distributions that characterize the Ashram samples (21.1% NdPr for the current 0.43 kg sample) rank among the higher in the world for non-cerium depleted mixed REC concentrates and exceeds that of several major global producers. Further, due to the presence of xenotime at Ashram, in addition to the dominant monazite, the concentrates also carry a significant heavy REE component - 0.82% TbDy distribution for the current 0.43 kg sample.

The mixed REC sample was shipped to an emerging downstream processor of REEs, located outside of China. Delivery of the sample is part of the Company's strategy of meaningful and tangible engagement with global downstream processors and end-users that have expressed a strong interest in obtaining a long-term, secure, and stable supply of mixed REE chemical concentrates with a high NdPr distribution. This sample, as well as those previous, were produced with the Company's flowsheet developed at Hazen Research, CO, in which several process operations have been demonstrated at a continuous pilot-scale level.

In the rare earth industry, a mixed REC concentrate is typically viewed as the initial marketable product in the REE value chain. A mixed REC is readily saleable as it is the most common feedstock to REE solvent extraction facilities globally, which separate the individual REEs and allow for them to be individually refined into marketable products and disseminated throughout downstream value chains.