Sustainable and Efficient New Process for Rare Earth Metal Separation in Recycling and Mining

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1 Sustainable and Efficient New Process for Rare Earth Metal Separation in Recycling and Mining

2 What are Rare Earth Metals? NdFeB

3 Rare Earth Magnets Clean and renewable energy NdFeB magnets Personal Technologies Clean and renewable energy Electric and Hybrid cars HDD Modern healthcare Wind Turbines MRI scanners Speakers Electronics

4 Supply and Demand Neodymium prices China Rest of the world

5 Supply and Demand Demand for RE magnets is increasing. Permanent Magnet market size is expected to exceed USD 20 billion by the end of Permanent Magnet market share by application (USD Billion) A Toyota Prius vehicle contains almost 1 kg REMs. A single large wind turbine typically contains 600 kg of REMs. The demand for Nd and Dy is anticipated to increase by 700 % and 2600 % in the next 25 years. Automotive Electronics Energy Others

6 How are magnets recycled? Plastics & metals, Au, Cu, Al etc. Products Other components Sold at market value Separation Technologies Landfill SX Extraction Organic Extractants Mixer Settlers or Centrifuge Extractors Recycled Less than 1% Non - SX Extraction Molecular Recognition Technology (MRT) Free Flow Electrophoresis (FFE) Ion Exchange (IX) Electrowinning

7 Current Separation Technologies SX Technology PC 88A HDEHP Cyanex 272 SF (Nd/Dy) = 50 SF (Nd/Dy) = 41.5 SF (Nd/Dy) = 1.76 Reported extractants have poor selectivity and require large number of stages i.e stages. Current processes rely on the use of diluents i.e. kerosene - highly volatile and flammable. Highly acidic streams Known problems with stability and recyclability of industrial extractants. Costly recycling process not economically viable.

8 Current Separation Technologies non SX technology Free Flow Electrophoresis FFE and ISR technology SF (Nd/Dy) = 30 FFE and ISR exploit the magnetic susceptibility difference between the REMs. Poor separation factors Long residence time > 8 hrs Issues with scale up Molecular Recognition Technology (MRT) MRT is the selective transport of metal ions to a solid support that has a selective ligand attached. Very expensive MRT works well for easy to separate elements such as Platinum group metals not so easy for REMs. Uses acids for dissolution and scrubbing.

9 Seren s Technology SX technology Novel highly selective extractant Seren s Process NdFeB magnet Mixed Nd/Dy High Selectivity Reduced number of stages Reduced CAPEX & OPEX No organic diluents SF (Nd/Dy) = > 1300 Drop in technology Seren s Process can be applied to the entire lanthanide series

10 Progress IP First patent filed in Seren have an exclusive license to develop and commercialise technology. Seren have filed another 5 patents that are built around the current process.

11 Progress IP Scale up Can our technology be scaled? Worked with various companies to find the best technology to adapt to our process. Process worked very efficient at scale.

12 Progress IP Where are we going to get our supply of magnets? Scale up Supply Chain End manufactures of HDDs e waste recycling companies Rare earth magnet producers

13 Progress IP Scale up Supply Chain Who are our customers? RE Magnet producers process magnet waste stream RE magnet producer RE magnet End product Customers Waste stream

14 Progress IP Scale up Supply Chain Customers Revenue RE Magnet producers sell the REM oxides back to the magnet producer. License technology RE magnet producer RE magnet Waste stream End product Revenue