Medallion Resources Ltd (CVE:MDL) (OTCQB:MLLOF) (FRA:MRDN) said it had acquired the licence for the exclusive rights to a university-developed rare earth element (REE) separation process to advance its business aims.
The license, acquired through Hasler Ventures, gives the company a portfolio of technology, patents, and knowhow for so-called ligand-assisted displacement (LAD) chromatography.
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The separation and purification LAD system was developed by Dr Linda Wang, PhD, a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University, which was ranked the fifth most innovative university in the USA by U.S. News & World Report.
“We believe this acquisition is a pivotal moment for Medallion, that will enable substantial downstream value to be added to our existing mineral sand monazite business model, as well as deliver new opportunities for sub-licensing of REE separation technology to third parties,” said Mark Saxon, Medallion's CEO in a statement.
"After extensive review of over 25 competing separation technologies, we believe this LAD technology has the potential to be REE-industry changing, and will become an important part of Medallion’s rare earth element processing capability. We are excited to be working with Linda Wang and her Purdue team.”
Medallion aims to produce rare earth elements (REE) by exploiting monazite, which is widely available as a by-product from mining mineral sands.
Rare earth elements include the 15 elements in the lanthanide series plus scandium (Sc) and yttrium (Y) and are essential ingredients for magnets, metal alloys, polishing powders, catalysts and ceramics.
According to one estimate, the global REE market is estimated at US$S4 billion annually and growing at about 8% a year.
Dan Hasler, the founder of Hasler Ventures, will join Medallion’s advisory board and represent Medallion Resources in sub-licensing and partnership opportunities.
Hasler Ventures will transfer all of its interest in the license to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Medallion in consideration for, in part, one million Medallion shares to be issued to Hasler Ventures or its nominee.
Also as part of the patent license, Medallion has committed to a three-year US$150,000 a year sponsored research program with Purdue University to further advance the technologies.
The goal is to achieve various technical milestones, including the operation of a demonstration plant.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com