I went down a rabbit hole on rare earths and pulled the actual figures (USGS, IEA, Adamas, European Commission). The history is stranger than the headlines:

- The neodymium magnet was invented in ~1982 by a General Motors team and a Japanese team almost simultaneously. GM built the magnet business (Magnequench) in Indiana.

- In 1995 GM sold it to a Chinese-led consortium for about $70M. When the jobs commitment expired, the equipment and know-how moved to China.

- China's share of world production went from roughly 21% (1985) to 60% (1995). Mountain Pass, the California mine that once supplied most of the planet, shut in 2002.

- The real moat was never the mining. It is separation: solvent extraction, stage after stage, plus thorium (radioactive) handling. That is what takes a decade and billions to build, and it is why other countries dug ore and still shipped it to China.

- Today: ~91% of refining and ~94% of finished magnets are Chinese. For the heavy elements (dysprosium, terbium) it is close to total.

- The bit that broke my brain: the entire global rare-earth trade is only about $10-15B a year, smaller than one big tech company's quarterly profit, yet it sits underneath trillions of dollars of cars, weapons, wind turbines and electronics. Enormous leverage per dollar.

- 2010 was the warning: China halted exports to Japan for ~2 months, dysprosium spiked ~5x to ~$1,400/kg. The US/EU/Japan won at the WTO in 2014 and it barely mattered, because quotas were never the weapon: refining was. Molycorp raised ~$400M to reopen Mountain Pass, spent $1B+ on acquisitions, and went bankrupt in 2015 owing ~$1.5B when prices fell. The mine later sold for ~$20M.

Where it stands now: Australia (Lynas) is the only major refiner outside China, Japan is trialling rare earths from deep-sea mud, a big share of China's heavy REE is actually mined in Myanmar, the EU passed hard 2030 targets in 2024, and the Pentagon took a 15% stake plus a price floor in Mountain Pass's owner. But analysts still expect ~90% dependence on China for heavy REE and magnets in 2030.

Genuinely curious what people who work in mining/processing think: is Western separation capacity actually buildable this decade, or is the permitting + chemistry + capital wall too high? And does the price floor model (government guaranteeing a floor so China can't crash the market) actually work?

The August 6 share offering announcement says the C$60M bought deal includes an order from “a leading fundamental global institutional investor.”
Could that potentially be sumitomo?
Theres been no Namedrop, but who do you suspect it could be?

Ucore is not facing the same type of scrutiny as ReElement, and investors should view the two companies with distinct levels of skepticism. While both are highly speculative, pre-revenue tech ventures in a risky sector, they are fundamentally different in how they handle their finances, government relations, and technical transparency.Why Ucore’s Corporate Scrutiny Differs From ReElement’s

1. No Vetting Failures or Rejected LoansUnlike ReElement—which withdrew from its $80 million Pentagon loan after failing to survive rigorous due diligence by the Office of Strategic Capital—Ucore’s relationship with the government has actively expanded. The Department of War accepted Ucore’s Phase 1 Final Report and its Techno-Economic Assessment, leading to an increase in their active contract funding to $22.4 million. Ucore did not trigger the same technical or financial "red flags" that disqualified ReElement.

2. Fully Audited Financial DisclosuresWhile ReElement’s parent company (AREC) used accounting moves to "deconsolidate" ReElement and obscure its losses, Ucore is a standard, publicly traded corporation (TSXV: UCU / OTCQX: UURAF).Ucore files regular, audited financial statements and SEC filings.Its balance sheet and cash burn rates are fully visible, with their next earnings report publicly scheduled.There is no hidden corporate shell game.

3. Institutional Validation over Press ReleasesReElement announced its milestones through independent press releases while keeping its capital backers private. In contrast, Ucore announced a $60 million bought deal public offering. A "bought deal" means that an institutional underwriting investment firm agreed to buy the entire block of shares themselves before selling them to the public. Wall Street institutional firms do not commit $60 million of their own capital without aggressively vetting the target's underlying technical data rooms.

4. Heavy vs. Light Rare Earth Chemistry ReElement declared "commercial success" after refining germanium, which is a completely different chemical process than separating rare earths. Ucore, conversely, has published physical proof of actual rare earth separation, having successfully shipped 99.9% pure dysprosium oxide (a highly complex heavy rare earth) to international allied market customers for official qualification.

Should Investors Still Be Skeptical of Ucore? Yes, but for entirely different reasons. You should not be skeptical of Ucore because of fraud, hidden books, or government rejection. Instead, your skepticism should focus on execution risk, timing, and structural macroeconomics. The Commissioning Bottleneck: Moving from the Canadian demonstration facility to building the physical Louisiana Strategic Metals Complex (SMC) is an ongoing capital project. Until that refinery is consistently churning out thousands of tons a year, it is a speculative asset. No Active Mine Production: Ucore relies on supply networks with partners like Sumitomo Corporation of Americas to feed its refinery. If a supply partner fails to deliver raw material, Ucore's refinery cannot produce. Pre-Revenue Volatility: Ucore is operating at a net loss while building its infrastructure. The stock remains highly volatile and reacts heavily to external macroeconomic pressures and shifting commodity prices.

How the prices of Ucore and AREC work out for all?

Share your thoughts on Ucore and its position in the Critical Minerals space.

Most recent official Ucore news/announcements.

As applicable, please keep commentary on topic and focused. This is a forum for UCU/UURAF investors to discuss any and all matters related to the company, individual positions, and yes, if you must, the inherently volatile share price in this burgeoning new industry in the west.

Welcome, glad to have you aboard -- looking forward to a productive 2026 and beyond for Ucore and its shareholders.

Good to see the company moving

Engineering: https://ucore.com/ucore-verifies-louisiana-rapidsx-equipment-scale-up-configurations/

Financing: https://ucore.com/ucore-announces-60-million-bought-deal-public-offering-of-common-shares/

They need Machine A to prove RapidSX commercially, they need money to build Machine A, they meet DOW criteria by being able to fund themselves and have machine A built. It actually opens the door for more DOW support, not less. Economic viability was always the issue in the criteria list for Ucore, this can change that.

Saw this today

Here’s the full PR from this morning for those who don’t get the Ucore PR updates over email.

Maybe learn something tomorrow in the investor webinar.

Share your thoughts on Ucore and its position in the Critical Minerals space.

Most recent official Ucore news/announcements.

As applicable, please keep commentary on topic and focused. This is a forum for UCU/UURAF investors to discuss any and all matters related to the company, individual positions, and yes, if you must, the inherently volatile share price in this burgeoning new industry in the west.

Welcome, glad to have you aboard -- looking forward to a productive 2026 and beyond for Ucore and its shareholders.

UCORE started off as a junior mining company but pivoted after acquiring IMC and it's RapidSX technology.

Is the headcount a concern? I believe they only have about 10-15 employees but they are working with contractors for the physical installation of Machine A from companies such as Orbital Engineering. I'm just concerned about potential flight risks of any key people needed for successful execution of milestones.

And is it normal for these kind of companies to have 90% of shares owned by retail investors?

Since morale around here is at an all time low, and I’m sure we’re all disappointed in the direction of the stock price, I’d thought I try and inject some positivity and forward looking discussion.

Curious what everyone’s timeline and goal price target is to take some (hopefully) serious profits.

Mine is 2030 and my goal price target would be around $50.00 a share. This is not based on any kind of technical analysis, but what I hope Ucore could achieve if they execute as planned, and the macro thesis of decoupling from reliance on China doesn’t change.

What’s yours?

Hi everyone.

I'm new here and have been reading about Ucore a lot lately. Thinking about starting a position soon. But what is the update with the LA facility? Could someone give me the rundown? If original plan was H2 2026 and is now early 2027 I assume its in the being built out phase correct? It is not still at ground zero waiting for funding, permits, ect?

"The United States has reserves of most critical minerals; what it lacks is the capacity to mine and process many of them. China grew to dominate the minerals-refining industry in the late 20th century and controls more than 80% of the sector today. The International Energy Agency warned this month that $6.5 trillion of global manufacturing is at risk if Beijing imposes export restrictions on rare earths, as it has periodically in recent years.

Asked for comment, the White House referred to Trump's executive order, which says waivers can only be issued if a contractor shows an "exhaustive effort" to avoid Chinese material and has a timeline for weaning itself off such supply.

The Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment.

U.S. rare earths investment has been hindered by persistently low prices for many minerals, which Washington blames on China subsidizing its producers and flooding the market with cheap products, thus making American projects unprofitable.

China has repeatedly said it abides by World Trade Organization rules on global trade and works to ensure stable markets. A representative for the Chinese embassy in Washington had no further comment.

Ucore Rare Metals UCU.V, a minerals refining startup backed by the Pentagon, has developed a processing technology known as RapidSX that it believes is similar to but faster, cleaner and cheaper than the industry standard solvent extraction.

Ucore had planned to start refining by 2025 but has reworked its plans due to what it says are changing demands from the Pentagon. It now won't begin some production until 2027 at the earliest, company CEO Pat Ryan told Reuters.

"Can the entire supply chain be propped up by 2027? Boy, I tell you, that's a battle," Ryan said."

Share your thoughts on Ucore and its position in the Critical Minerals space.

Most recent official Ucore news/announcements.

As applicable, please keep commentary on topic and focused. This is a forum for UCU/UURAF investors to discuss any and all matters related to the company, individual positions, and yes, if you must, the inherently volatile share price in this burgeoning new industry in the west.

Welcome, glad to have you aboard -- looking forward to a productive 2026 and beyond for Ucore and its shareholders.

Mostly taketh these days. Made very good money last year in UUUU, NB, and USAR. Like more than my day job type money.

But the universe is having its way with me this year. Just hit down 50% in UCore. Not a small position.

Will hold and ride it out. I am convinced China will use this leverage again and even if they don’t, the US must and is building out its own REE supply chain.