Texas Mineral Resources Supports H.R. 1407, Congressman Duncan Hunter's 2017 METALS Act
SIERRA BLANCA, TX--(Marketwired - March 16, 2017) - Texas Mineral Resources Corp. (OTCQX: TMRC)
- TMRC potentially a direct beneficiary of the proposed METALS Act.
- Round Top heavy rare earth project in Texas and Pennsylvania rare earth-from-coal project seek to produce the strategic and critical materials that are the subject of the Act.
Texas Mineral Resources Corp. (TMRC), an exploration company targeting the heavy rare earths and a variety of other high-value elements and industrial minerals, is pleased to announce support for Congressman Duncan Hunter's H.R. 1407 METALS bill, introduced on March 7th, as the "Materials Essential To American Leadership and Security Act." The full text of the bill may be found at the following link: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1407/text
The bill seeks to, among other things, create a working capital fund administered by the Department of Defense's Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) that would allow domestic companies to access capital necessary for the production of strategic and critical materials through five-year interest free loans. Congressman Hunter's bill addresses the need to re-align the current supply chain for strategic and critical materials away from China and back to the United States as it applies to defense and national security applications. According to a study sponsored by the European Union, China currently controls 100% of the world's heavy rare earth supply and 85% of the world's light rare earth supply. A report published by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service notes that rare earth minerals are the building blocks of virtually every product produced by the defense industry.
TMRC's Round Top Project, located on state property approximately 70 miles southeast of El Paso, Texas, proposes to produce heavy rare earth minerals along with co-products such as scandium, lithium and other industrial minerals in forms readily saleable in the United States. TMRC has recently completed a project for the Defense Logistics Agency in which it separated 3 rare earth minerals, two of which it processed to 99.999% purity at the request of DLA. In addition, TMRC has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with a Pennsylvania coal company for the purpose of exploring the possibility of extracting rare earth minerals such as scandium from coal overburden. In September, 2016 the Office of Fossil Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy issued a $23.75 million Financial Assistance Funding Opportunity Announcement titled: Production of Salable Rare Earth Elements from Domestic U.S. Coal and Coal By-Products. TMRC, its processing partners Inventure Renewables/K Technologies and Penn State University have jointly submitted an application for this grant.
Anthony Marchese, chairman, commented: "Congressman Hunter is to be commended for his efforts to address the need to re-establish a stable, secure domestic source of critical materials in the United States. In addition to the needs of the defense industry, virtually every consumer electronics product manufactured today has a rare earth raw material component. Allowing a foreign power to control such a vital part of the manufacturing supply chain -- when such materials can be mined and refined in the United States -- is outright dangerous."
Dan Gorski, CEO, further commented: "Our deposit at Round Top and the proposed separation work involving Pennsylvania coal could provide ample domestic supply of the full range of critical and strategic rare earths, at purity levels suitable to the most exacting applications. Congressman Hunter's bill is a strong reminder of the geo-political stakes in developing a reliable strategic material supply."
About Texas Mineral Resources Corp.
Texas Mineral Resources Corp.'s primary focus is exploring and, if warranted, developing its Round Top heavy rare earth and industrial minerals project located in Hudspeth County, Texas, 85 miles east of El Paso. The Company's common stock trades on the OTCQX U.S. tier under the symbol "TMRC."
Contact
Company Contact:
Texas Mineral Resources Corp.
Anthony Marchese
Chairman
E-mail: Email contact