WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:11.640 Joining me now is Josh Ballard. He's CEO of USA 2 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:15.119 Rare Earth. They're traded on NASDAK. They have a website 3 00:00:15.119 --> 00:00:18.800 as well. On NASDAK. They're symbol as USAAR on the web. 4 00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:22.800 You can find them at us AAR dot com. If 5 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:25.160 I got that correct. If I didn't, Josh, you can 6 00:00:25.160 --> 00:00:27.239 correct me. And I want to talk to him because 7 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:30.320 he's been on the forefront of this rare earth issue 8 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:33.119 and that is really kind of at the forefront of 9 00:00:33.159 --> 00:00:36.039 what is going on in this trade dispute with China. 10 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:39.840 We hold all the cards when it comes to tariffs 11 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:42.320 and who's going to buy what from who, But there 12 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:44.200 are other ways that they can strike back, and one 13 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:45.719 of the things that they have done is to use 14 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:51.119 their position of dominance in rare earth minerals to essentially 15 00:00:51.159 --> 00:00:53.840 shut down supply of critical things. So thank you so 16 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:55.320 much for joining us, Josh. We've got a lot of 17 00:00:55.399 --> 00:00:58.200 questions about rare earth minerals. Thank you for joining us. 18 00:00:58.560 --> 00:00:59.960 Yeah, thank you for having me appreciate it. 19 00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:01.600 First of all, tell us a little bit about what 20 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:03.880 rare earth minerals are. Why do we call them rare. 21 00:01:05.239 --> 00:01:08.079 Rare earth minerals. For the most part, actually aren't rare. 22 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:11.840 They are pretty abundant. But what's difficult about them is 23 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:13.599 you don't have a vein of them in the ground. 24 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:16.079 So when you go get coal, you have a vein 25 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:18.079 of coal, you can make it straight out. Rare earths 26 00:01:18.120 --> 00:01:20.959 are dispersed throughout the rock, so there's a lot of 27 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:22.879 science that goes into pulling it out of the rock 28 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:24.879 so that you can then separate out the minerals and 29 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:26.519 ores that can be used in the metals and the 30 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:28.359 magnets and so forth. So it's hard. 31 00:01:29.719 --> 00:01:31.799 Some are super rare, some are lot so rare. 32 00:01:32.120 --> 00:01:34.239 China, by the way, focused on the super rare ones, 33 00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:36.480 you know, to your point that they could really control, 34 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:41.719 but they're critical to modern technology and they're critical to 35 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:45.519 you know, really how we live today in surprising ways. 36 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:48.599 Yeah, especially because we see a lot of these, you know, 37 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:50.519 it's gotten to the point we have these super magnets 38 00:01:50.519 --> 00:01:51.879 that are very small. Of course, we use them all 39 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:54.120 kinds of things. You can have it with an airbud, 40 00:01:54.200 --> 00:01:56.599 speaker or all that. It's just so many different things. 41 00:01:57.079 --> 00:01:59.239 And the fact that you can make very very small, 42 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:02.079 very strong magnets, I think that's a large part of 43 00:02:02.120 --> 00:02:06.840 that and of course, with everything going electric magnets are 44 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:12.439 absolutely essential to convert electricity into some kind of movement 45 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:15.919 or some kind of transducer, whether it's moving a speaker 46 00:02:16.039 --> 00:02:18.439 or whether it's moving a car, you know, the motor 47 00:02:18.520 --> 00:02:21.360 or something like that. So it's really key to the 48 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:23.400 kind of devices that we have. It's really key to 49 00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:27.479 a lot of consumer electronics, key to military things especially. 50 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:31.599 How did China tell me you probably know more. I've 51 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:33.840 thought it was somewhere around seventy percent of the minerals 52 00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:37.080 or they've got ConTroll of, but of the refinement, they've 53 00:02:37.080 --> 00:02:39.400 got like nearly ninety percent. Those are the figures I've seen. 54 00:02:39.479 --> 00:02:41.000 Is that correct or correct me? 55 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:43.639 If that's correct? Yeah, that's correct. Now, then you have 56 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:46.879 to separate into what rares. So well, I'll take one 57 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:50.520 step back. The context of this is in the early 58 00:02:50.599 --> 00:02:52.879 nineties there was a vice premiere in China who said 59 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:55.960 Middle East has oil, China has rarers. 60 00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:58.719 This has been their focus for over thirty years. 61 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:02.039 Wow, And they've been very deliberate about it and built 62 00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:03.639 up a pretty strong supply chain. 63 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:06.199 To your point, today it used to. 64 00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:08.199 Be over ninety percent mining as well, it's now about 65 00:03:08.199 --> 00:03:11.919 seventy percent mining. We have about fifteen percent of it 66 00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:15.360 here in the US of certain light rearers that are 67 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:18.479 a little bit more abundant, but over ninety percent of 68 00:03:18.520 --> 00:03:21.599 the processing havespends in China. Not only ninety percent of 69 00:03:21.639 --> 00:03:24.159 the processing which is just to get the ore, but 70 00:03:24.199 --> 00:03:26.319 they also have over ninety percent of the metal making 71 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:28.840 and they also have over ninety percent of the magnet 72 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:31.280 making for all those magnets you were just describing, So 73 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:33.599 they really control all of the supply chain. And then 74 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:37.080 when you focus it into specific minerals. This export list 75 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:40.039 for example that just occurred about two weeks ago that 76 00:03:40.120 --> 00:03:43.639 went into play. Those minerals they control for the most part, 77 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:46.000 not everyone, but for the most part over ninety eight percent. 78 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:52.240 And the critical ones gatollinium, dysprosium, terbium, those are over 79 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:53.560 ninety eight percent for sure. 80 00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:56.560 Yeah, these are names that I never I don't know, 81 00:03:56.840 --> 00:03:59.840 I got alegrical engineering degree. I've never heard of these 82 00:04:01.240 --> 00:04:01.759 and they're. 83 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:03.120 So critical to our lives. 84 00:04:03.240 --> 00:04:06.680 Gattolinium, way is the mineral that we use when you 85 00:04:06.680 --> 00:04:08.919 get an MRI scan. It's the mineral that creates the 86 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:12.639 contrast around our organs. This is going to affect millions 87 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:14.439 of MRI scans the country. 88 00:04:14.439 --> 00:04:16.240 It becomes personal. This isn't just political. 89 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:18.920 Oh yeah, there's minerals in that list that are used 90 00:04:18.920 --> 00:04:22.040 to fight cancer. And then there's minerals like disprosium and 91 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:24.160 terbium that are used they could handle a lot of 92 00:04:24.199 --> 00:04:26.439 heats that they're used in a rocket systems, they're used, 93 00:04:26.839 --> 00:04:29.920 they're used in in high performance magnets that you'd use 94 00:04:29.959 --> 00:04:33.199 in not only an EV but in high performance machinery 95 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:34.720 and the defense or in drones. 96 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:37.519 You know. So these are really important. 97 00:04:37.079 --> 00:04:40.199 Minerals and important magnets and technologies for our society today. 98 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:42.279 Now they've been very strategic. One of the things that 99 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:44.240 I've heard and you talked about the fact that they're 100 00:04:44.279 --> 00:04:46.759 not so much rare as they are difficult to get. 101 00:04:46.839 --> 00:04:49.399 I guess, you know, we could have if we could 102 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:52.600 marvel at unobtainium. You know, we get one of those 103 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:54.720 things there, but that's not a real one, but that's 104 00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:56.800 straight out of Marvel comics. But it is kind of 105 00:04:56.879 --> 00:04:59.439 like that. It's really hard to get this stuff. And 106 00:04:59.480 --> 00:05:01.920 one of the things that I've heard that China has 107 00:05:01.959 --> 00:05:08.240 done is you know, using very crude and dirty methods 108 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:12.000 of extraction using slave labor and a lot of other places. 109 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:14.279 That's helped them to get a monopoly on this as 110 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:18.759 well as just the grigraphical location of this stuff. So 111 00:05:19.079 --> 00:05:22.399 from that standpoint, where do we stand in the United States, 112 00:05:22.759 --> 00:05:25.879 Because we also have voluntarily in the West, we have 113 00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:31.399 given China a huge advantage on energy costs, you know, 114 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:33.920 we have that they can again do as cheap and 115 00:05:33.959 --> 00:05:36.160 dirty a coal as they wish. We're not allowed to 116 00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:38.439 even have clean coal plants and that type of thing. 117 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:42.199 Many places in the West. Everybody's shutting down their their 118 00:05:42.199 --> 00:05:46.279 manufacturing facilities. So we have a real issue with this. 119 00:05:46.519 --> 00:05:48.040 And and so you know, how do we how do 120 00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:50.000 we get out of this situation, even if we've got 121 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:54.199 fifteen percent of them? You know, what is that going 122 00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:57.199 to How is that going to affect our country if 123 00:05:57.240 --> 00:05:59.920 our costs of manufacturing what tribe because our energy costs 124 00:05:59.879 --> 00:06:04.160 are higher, If we are going to have a clean 125 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:07.120 and responsible way to get to handle these things rather 126 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:10.920 than just doing it and who cares what happens approach 127 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:12.480 that the Chinese have had in other countries. 128 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:15.879 Yeah, and I think that's a great question. And you know, 129 00:06:15.959 --> 00:06:18.199 as Americans, as humans, we want to do this as 130 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:20.839 responsible as possible as we bring it back to the US, 131 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:23.959 we can, there's ways to do it much cleaner. So 132 00:06:24.040 --> 00:06:27.800 for example, in rare earth mining, of course you're mining, 133 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:29.040 you're taking things out of the ground. 134 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:31.600 Maybe you can't avoid that for sure, But. 135 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:33.680 What you can do is you can reduce dust levels. 136 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:37.240 You can use a lot of acids and reagents within 137 00:06:37.319 --> 00:06:39.279 this process to get the minermals out of the rock 138 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:43.839 and separate them. You can recycle those reagents. There's ways 139 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:46.639 you can recycle the water that you're using within the plant. 140 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:49.199 So there's things that we can do to be much 141 00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:52.000 more responsible about it than certainly they are in China 142 00:06:52.600 --> 00:06:54.639 and Sean not on. They are responsible, and then of 143 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:58.319 course the government's also subsidizing it and just accelerating. And 144 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:00.240 what we can do here in the US. It's one 145 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:01.959 we've been more responsible, but then we have to create 146 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:02.319 a moat. 147 00:07:02.360 --> 00:07:02.519 Though. 148 00:07:02.519 --> 00:07:05.160 We have to protect the industry that we're trying to 149 00:07:05.160 --> 00:07:07.839 build here now because we do need it. Domestically. You 150 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:10.839 can argue in favor or not of the current TERFF regime. 151 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:14.120 What I can tell you is when it comes to 152 00:07:14.199 --> 00:07:17.680 rare earth's rare earth magnets, not only rare but also 153 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:19.519 to other critical minerals that have been in the news 154 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:20.160 a lot lately. 155 00:07:20.279 --> 00:07:21.839 We do need to create a mote. We need to 156 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:23.680 build this industry back here in the US. 157 00:07:23.720 --> 00:07:25.800 It's too important to our day to day lives, is 158 00:07:25.800 --> 00:07:28.720 too important to our defense, and to rely on one 159 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:30.879 single choke point like China, it's just a mistake. 160 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:33.040 Well you know, lover hate China that moment, there. 161 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:36.040 Is a mistake that we need to fix and creating 162 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:38.600 this moat, whether it's through support through the government, whether 163 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:41.680 it's through a terif regien, whether it's through making it 164 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:45.079 less onerous to build a mind for example, permitting and 165 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:48.279 so forth. But while making sure we're still responsible humans. 166 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:50.399 You know, we still need to be responsible, but we 167 00:07:50.439 --> 00:07:52.959 don't need to kill a business to be responsible, right, 168 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:54.639 which is what we've been doing in the mining world 169 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:55.439 for all these decades. 170 00:07:55.560 --> 00:07:58.600 Oh yeah, yeah, I guess my question is I look 171 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:01.160 at it is how do we get from where we 172 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:05.519 are right now to a position of you know, where 173 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:07.680 we have some self sufficiency in this and you know 174 00:08:07.720 --> 00:08:09.839 that would apply to pretty much everything, but in the 175 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:13.600 rare earth, the situation we you know, we look at 176 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:17.519 this abrupt change that is here and you know being 177 00:08:17.560 --> 00:08:20.720 shut down right away by China. How do we get 178 00:08:20.759 --> 00:08:24.399 through this transition? What does the interim situation look like? 179 00:08:24.439 --> 00:08:28.480 You say, we've got fifteen percent supply here? How much 180 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:30.879 is how much pain is that going to cause in 181 00:08:30.920 --> 00:08:33.840 the US during a transition period, because it's going to 182 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:35.399 be a period of time that you've got to get 183 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:37.879 your mining up and working and got to get manufacturing 184 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:40.639 up and working. That's not going to happen overnight. So 185 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:42.759 what happens in the interim? Are we going to see 186 00:08:42.759 --> 00:08:45.279 sky high prices in the interim? 187 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:49.519 And it's that's fifteen percent of overall rare earth? But 188 00:08:49.799 --> 00:08:52.720 fortunately we have fifteen percent of the easiest the ones 189 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:55.519 in the export percent this export list we have zero. 190 00:08:56.039 --> 00:08:56.360 Wow. 191 00:08:56.440 --> 00:08:58.600 So this is a challenge for US and it's going 192 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:00.639 to affect us in the very short I mean, there's 193 00:09:00.679 --> 00:09:03.279 some some stock files right we have I wouldn't call 194 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:05.879 it a stock bile. There's some inventories of these minerals 195 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:07.840 and these metals here in the US, some. 196 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:11.080 In friendly countries for instance, like Australia or whatever that 197 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:14.759 I think aren't there some there they have the important ones? 198 00:09:14.919 --> 00:09:18.159 Or yeah, they don't have this export list. Necessarily there's 199 00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:20.000 some coming out of Brazil, but they get sent to 200 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:23.440 get processed in China, and you know, all the processing 201 00:09:23.480 --> 00:09:25.200 goes through China. So we're going to have this period. 202 00:09:25.240 --> 00:09:26.519 I don't know what we're going to do. I mean, 203 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:27.919 maybe we're going to work out ways to do it 204 00:09:27.960 --> 00:09:31.240 through intermediaris. Maybe we'll come to some kind of agreement 205 00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:32.840 so we can start to get some of these minerals 206 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:35.039 back for a while. The short term is tough because 207 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:38.039 there's no short term answers. And if you break apart 208 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:40.360 this supply chain, and this is what we're working on 209 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:42.879 as a company, is this entire supply chain trying to 210 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:46.759 do it domestically. If you start, I'm going to start 211 00:09:46.759 --> 00:09:49.679 with metals and magnets those you know. What I've been 212 00:09:49.720 --> 00:09:51.519 talking to the government about is it's time for a 213 00:09:51.559 --> 00:09:54.679 Marshall Plan, Like we need to look at this as 214 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:57.519 something that has to happen quick. We need to invest 215 00:09:57.559 --> 00:09:59.799 in it. We need to bring private investment. That has 216 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:01.759 to be private public partnership. We need to make this 217 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:04.919 happen as quickly as possible. And on the metals and 218 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:07.799 magnet side, we can surge that and over the next 219 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:10.679 year or two make a big difference, right, not solve 220 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:12.480 the entire problem that we have, but we can make 221 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:14.639 a big dent for sure over the next couple of years. 222 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:16.159 Certainly we have. 223 00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:18.279 A plan that we could uplift this within a couple 224 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:20.120 of years. We could build our whole magnet facility, which 225 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:22.360 will make hundreds of millions of these magnets. We could 226 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:25.639 build metal making here in the US. This can happen. 227 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:29.159 We can be the first domestically, you know, the full 228 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:32.120 domestic source of this here in the US. But on 229 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:36.080 the deposit side, on the mining side, on the processing side, 230 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:38.440 you can build a mine, you know that might not 231 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:40.840 take so long to break up rock and grind it, 232 00:10:41.320 --> 00:10:43.200 but the processing of that rock to get out of 233 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:45.480 the minerals. There's a science behind that that we've lost. 234 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:48.159 We've been working on it for years. A couple of 235 00:10:48.200 --> 00:10:50.279 our peers been working on it the last few years. 236 00:10:50.639 --> 00:10:53.960 We've made progress, but there's still work to do, and 237 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:56.879 that doesn't happen overnight. You know, even if you have 238 00:10:56.919 --> 00:11:00.519 a great depot, like our deposit in West Texas is 239 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:03.840 an incredible deposit with all these rarers on this export list, 240 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:05.679 that's what we're heavy we're heavy in the heavies is 241 00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:08.240 what I call. These are called heavy rare earths, fifty 242 00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:11.200 seventy heavy rare earths. But we have to we still 243 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:13.039 have to work through the science of that. Then we 244 00:11:13.080 --> 00:11:15.399 have to build the processing techniques we're going to use. 245 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:17.879 We are building it. We have to build that first 246 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:19.399 demo plant and then build a mind. 247 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:19.759 None of that. 248 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:22.000 Happens over it, right, well, but we consurge it, we 249 00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:24.320 can get support from the government, we can shorten that cycle. 250 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:27.200 It's not decades. I think it's over the next few years. 251 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:28.879 We can build it. Let's go to take a little 252 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:30.320 bit of time. So we got this period we got 253 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:31.840 to figure out for sure. 254 00:11:32.440 --> 00:11:35.320 So what you're saying is even though we have some 255 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:39.720 in Texas that we know of the minerals there, the 256 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:43.720 whole processing, refinement, manufacturing process that's been we don't have that. 257 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:46.360 We don't have that knowledge and we've got to discover that, 258 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:48.399 right as well as build the factories. 259 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:52.279 Is that correct? That's right, that's correct. And every deposit's 260 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:53.320 different as well. 261 00:11:53.480 --> 00:11:56.480 Right, there's different mix of minerals, there's different impurities, there's 262 00:11:56.480 --> 00:11:58.519 different science. You have to be used to approach it. 263 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:01.639 So it's a you know, it's a puzzles. You got 264 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:04.360 on crack at every deposit, so it's just not an 265 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:04.919 overnight thing. 266 00:12:04.919 --> 00:12:07.279 But we have to rebuild this in the US. There's 267 00:12:07.320 --> 00:12:08.639 absolutely we got figure out. 268 00:12:09.240 --> 00:12:11.240 Really caught us flat footed, didn't they. I mean, they 269 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:15.120 thought strategically about this, and we've just been kind of 270 00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:17.480 taking the path at least resistance for quite some time, 271 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:20.840 and all of a sudden because of trade dispute, it 272 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:23.440 looks like it's going to be shut down, and you know, 273 00:12:23.480 --> 00:12:25.360 we it's going to take years for us to get 274 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:29.480 this thing together. So your company is working on the 275 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:32.879 entire supply chain then right from getting it out of 276 00:12:32.919 --> 00:12:36.159 the ground to processing and refining it and then manufacturing 277 00:12:36.200 --> 00:12:39.320 and to finish product maybe even into magnets. 278 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:41.039 Is that correct, that's right? 279 00:12:41.080 --> 00:12:43.120 In fact, yeah, we're looking at taking out of the 280 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:46.480 ground in West Texas, processing in West Texas, and then 281 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:48.519 metal making and magnet making here. 282 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:51.360 I'm in Oklahoma today. Out here in Oklahoma, we're building up. 283 00:12:51.879 --> 00:12:54.000 We're in the process of building a large three hundred 284 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:57.039 thousand square foot facility, magna making facility and future metal 285 00:12:57.080 --> 00:12:58.519 making facility here in Oklahoma. 286 00:12:58.840 --> 00:12:59.799 It's gonna be the first. 287 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:05.120 Large facility really to serve the entire magnet market here 288 00:13:05.159 --> 00:13:07.679 in the US. It's gonna make hundreds of millions of magnets. 289 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:10.639 And we're commissioning our first line beginning of next year, 290 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:13.080 and we're already making magnets. We have a big lab 291 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:15.879 industrial lab that we're working through to start working with customers, 292 00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:18.879 and we commissioned last month. So we're moving pretty quickly. 293 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:20.720 And the question is is now how quickly can we move? 294 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:23.919 It's all about capital and execution, and we need to 295 00:13:23.960 --> 00:13:26.759 get the capital in government, private all together. 296 00:13:27.639 --> 00:13:28.399 Push this fast. 297 00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:31.840 We can build as fast as we can get capital 298 00:13:31.879 --> 00:13:35.600 and to build it, but will be a significant, significant 299 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:37.200 asset here in the US here in the short. 300 00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:37.679 Term for sure. 301 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:40.679 Yeah, of coach, I think back to World War Two, 302 00:13:40.840 --> 00:13:43.000 we got caught flat footed and a lot of critical 303 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:45.559 things like rubber stuff like that, and you know, we 304 00:13:45.639 --> 00:13:48.080 lost the supply of those types of things that came 305 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:52.879 up with synthetic rubbers and stuff like that. Is there 306 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:57.559 any possibility that you know, these things can be replacious, 307 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:00.480 likely replaced natural rubber with synthetic rubber, or is there 308 00:14:00.519 --> 00:14:03.759 any are you looking at alternatives to rare earth that 309 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:05.879 might be substitutes that could get there. 310 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:07.480 It's hard. 311 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:11.320 You know what's special about rare earths are what if 312 00:14:11.320 --> 00:14:13.960 it's a metal alloy is the properties that they have. 313 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:17.279 They have special properties that can withstand heat, that have 314 00:14:17.320 --> 00:14:20.639 super conductivity. We take a critical metal like gallium, which 315 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:23.120 was also banned a few a few months ago. Also, 316 00:14:23.480 --> 00:14:25.840 we're very rich in gallium in our deposit. Gallium is 317 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:28.759 used in the Patriot missile system for examples. This is 318 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:31.600 why trying to target it. It's also used in semiconductors 319 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:34.360 because of its conductivity and it's ability to stand heat. 320 00:14:34.360 --> 00:14:38.120 It helps miniaturize semiconductors and speed them up. 321 00:14:38.200 --> 00:14:39.080 So yeah, we can still make. 322 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:41.440 Sem Yeah, I'm familiar with gallium. That's that's been used 323 00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:44.120 in semiconductors for quite some time. Yeah. Yeah, and we 324 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:47.320 just never bothered to have a supply of it. That's 325 00:14:47.320 --> 00:14:47.919 pretty amazing. 326 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:51.080 Yeah, And it's playing on the plane's day that we 327 00:14:51.080 --> 00:14:51.679 should have done this. 328 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:53.480 So this is not a surprise to the industry at all, 329 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:56.480 by the way, But when it comes to rare earth magnets, 330 00:14:56.559 --> 00:14:59.440 the key is in some areas you can replace them, 331 00:14:59.480 --> 00:15:02.639 but the key is are so powerful and so small. 332 00:15:02.759 --> 00:15:05.279 The power and how small they are. You know, it's 333 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:07.759 like ten times smaller. And so when you think about 334 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:10.759 a drone and the magnet it needs in a drone, 335 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:13.000 like there's limitations because you can't put something too big. 336 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:17.799 It makes it too heavy. If you think about a speaker, 337 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:21.240 same problem. Right now, you can make a less a speaker. 338 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:22.039 You can just make it. 339 00:15:22.200 --> 00:15:23.919 We didn't always use these magnets. You could just make 340 00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:26.600 it a less powerful speaker. You know, a permanent magnet. 341 00:15:26.679 --> 00:15:29.399 These rarest magnets and the speaker are super small. They 342 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:31.759 create fifty percent more base and they're like a third 343 00:15:31.799 --> 00:15:33.519 the sign or tenth the size or something like it. 344 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:36.120 There's a huge difference in power with these. If you 345 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:37.919 think about a tesla, you put it in beast mode 346 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:39.600 and you put on the accelerator and it feels like 347 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:42.759 you're in a roller coaster. That's these these magnets, these 348 00:15:42.759 --> 00:15:45.519 permanent rarest magnets, turn that on and turn that drive. Oh, 349 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:51.240 you're off right, and you can't do that. The weight 350 00:15:51.480 --> 00:15:53.080 and the size you're going to be too big. And 351 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:55.679 so there's limitations in terms of how far we can 352 00:15:55.720 --> 00:15:57.440 take it. That's why these are important. I think we 353 00:15:57.480 --> 00:15:58.639 just need to figure it out here. 354 00:15:59.000 --> 00:15:59.600 That's domestic. 355 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:03.639 It is amazing. I mean we're in I guess you 356 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:05.679 say we're in a tight spot now with this stuff. 357 00:16:05.960 --> 00:16:07.200 Let me just ask you this is kind of a 358 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:10.120 wild question, you know. I always looking at this Greenland 359 00:16:10.120 --> 00:16:11.759 stuff and everybody's like, there's a lot of stuff out 360 00:16:11.799 --> 00:16:15.279 there is But I also hear that it's extremely hard 361 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:17.080 to get the stuff out of the frozen ground everything. 362 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:18.759 I mean, that's not going to factor in anything, is 363 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:20.080 it or is that a factor anything? 364 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:24.360 No, I think it's I think it's great marketing. But 365 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:27.039 the reality is Ukraine Greenland. 366 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:27.159 They do have a lot. 367 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:31.000 Greenland has a lot, right Ukraine doesn't have anywhere much 368 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:31.960 in What they do have is. 369 00:16:31.960 --> 00:16:35.120 In Russian controlled territory. Yeah, but all those countries they're 370 00:16:35.159 --> 00:16:38.120 decades away. So what we need to do is work 371 00:16:38.120 --> 00:16:40.000 on what we have right here. We have it here. 372 00:16:40.679 --> 00:16:42.279 I mean we have when you. 373 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:45.720 Break apart the light rare earths, which are syrium and 374 00:16:45.799 --> 00:16:48.440 lanthanum are using a lot of technologies and ceramics and 375 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:51.200 these LCD screens we're looking at now, all sorts of 376 00:16:51.240 --> 00:16:54.600 places you use these Latham's also used in batteries, is 377 00:16:54.679 --> 00:16:56.399 very important. We have a ton of that stuff, and 378 00:16:56.799 --> 00:16:58.639 we make a lot of it here, we just don't 379 00:16:58.679 --> 00:17:02.399 process it here. Odymium, praisiodemia, the key minerals that go 380 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:05.240 in or that goes into these magnets, we make some here. 381 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:08.039 We have other deposits that we can develop that we 382 00:17:08.119 --> 00:17:10.279 know of, and then we have a heavy deposit like 383 00:17:10.359 --> 00:17:12.680 ours that we know we can develop. It's going to 384 00:17:12.759 --> 00:17:15.039 take two or three years or four years, but we 385 00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:17.160 can do it a lot faster than the decades away 386 00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:20.319 that will happen in a Greenland, Eura or Ukraine or 387 00:17:20.359 --> 00:17:23.119 choose your other country. There's lots of known deposits, not 388 00:17:23.240 --> 00:17:24.359 many of them are close. 389 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:27.000 Yeah, you here, let's go for it. 390 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:28.440 Well, it's good to hear you verify that. And that's 391 00:17:28.440 --> 00:17:30.799 what I reported too. I's had a lot of sources said, 392 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:33.240 you know, there's not that much in Ukraine, and what's 393 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:36.279 there is not in the territory that's controlled by the 394 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:40.880 Ukrainian government, and so yeah, there is a There seems 395 00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:44.720 to be a real disconnect with reality in many cases 396 00:17:45.319 --> 00:17:47.039 as we look at this stuff. But the reality is 397 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:49.599 is that it's going to be a difficult position, and 398 00:17:49.880 --> 00:17:53.240 they've really got a strategic advantage in this, and they're 399 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:56.720 willing to use that as as leverage and so and 400 00:17:56.759 --> 00:17:59.400 we have given them not only have we walked away 401 00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:02.200