Great Western Minerals Group Signs Long Term Co-operation Agreement With Aichi Steel to Supply Rare Earth Alloys for World's Str
April 27 2011 - 9:30AM
Marketwired
Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. ("GWMG" or the "Company") (TSX
VENTURE: GWG)(OTCQX: GWMGF) announces that it has, through its
wholly owned subsidiary Less Common Metals Limited ("LCM"), signed
a long term Co-operation Agreement with Aichi Steel Corporation
("ASC") of Japan. ASC is a part of the Toyota Group of Companies.
LCM is a producer of Rare Earth metals and alloys to the
worldwide magnet industry. It has been supplying ASC with neodymium
iron boron ("NdFeB") alloys for more than 10 years. The alloys
supplied have been consumed in the "MagFine" ™ facility of ASC
where they have been used to manufacture an anisotropic magnet
powder capable of producing the world's most powerful bonded
magnets. To date more than 20 million magnets have been produced
and successfully applied in components that combine drastic
reductions in weight with high power efficiency for automotive and
other applications.
ASC is a speciality steel producer with an electromagnetic
division aimed at the development of new and proprietary magnetic
materials. Within this division is the "MagFine" business which is
undergoing a rapid expansion program, causing a doubling of the
size of its current production facility in Seki, Japan. The Seki
plant provides all the powder to the "MagFine" manufacturing sites
which are located in Japan, Czech Republic, Korea and China. With
further expansion planned throughout the world ASC expects volumes
to grow significantly over the coming years.
Dr. Y. Honkura, Senior Managing Director at ASC, stated, "Given
our ambitious plans for the expansion of our "MagFine" product, it
will be critical, for us and our customers, to secure a reliable,
non-Chinese source of Rare Earths and alloys on whom we can rely to
supply the majority of our alloy requirements long into the future.
GWMG will be a key factor in providing this security via its mine
at Steenkampskraal in South Africa and its LCM facility in the
United Kingdom. The signing of this Co-operation Agreement ensures
ASC will benefit from a long term supply commitment securing alloy
of the very highest quality for years to come."
The Co-operation Agreement allows for the long term supply of
NdFeB alloys produced by LCM using Rare Earth oxides to be produced
at the Steenkampskraal mine in South Africa. A doubling of the
planned capacity at LCM is currently underway as the first phase of
expansion to facilitate near term demand from ASC. A further phased
expansion program has already been designed to accommodate the
projected expansion of ASC alloy demand in future.
Jim Engdahl, CEO of GWMG said, "There has been a long term
relationship between our companies and it is reassuring to know
that ASC of the Toyota Motor Group will provide the cornerstone of
demand for our Rare Earth products over the coming years. This
Co-operation Agreement ensures a guaranteed market for an important
segment of the Rare Earth alloys we produce. It also provides a
level of stability to our Company that enables us to evaluate the
expansion of our planned operations at Steenkampskraal in
expectation of increasing demand".
Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. is an integrated Rare Earths
processor. Its specialty alloys are used in the battery, magnet and
aerospace industries. Produced at the Company's wholly owned
subsidiaries Less Common Metals Limited in Birkenhead, U.K. and
Great Western Technologies Inc. in Troy, Michigan, these alloys
contain aluminium, nickel, cobalt and Rare Earth Elements. As part
of the Company's vertical integration strategy, GWMG has signed an
Off-take Agreement for 100% of the Rare Earth Elements to be
produced at the former producing Steenkampskraal mine in South
Africa and holds 92.6% equity ownership in Rare Earth Extraction
Co. Limited, the owner of the Steenkampskraal mine. In addition to
a planned exploration program at Steenkampskraal, GWMG also holds
interests in six Rare Earth exploration and development properties
in North America.
Certain information set out in this News Release constitutes
forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements (often, but
not always, identified by the use of words such as "expect", "may",
"could", "anticipate" or "will" and similar expressions) may
describe expectations, opinions or guidance that are not statements
of fact and which may be based upon information provided by third
parties. Forward-looking statements are based upon the opinions,
expectations and estimates of management of GWMG as at the date the
statements are made and are subject to a variety of known and
unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause
actual events or outcomes to differ materially from those
anticipated or implied by such forward-looking statements. Those
factors include, but are not limited to, the results of the
exploration program, a resource estimate and commencement of
production at Steenkampskraal, satisfaction of the conditions
precedent with respect to GWMG's offtake agreement, receipt of all
required approvals (including those relating to the commencement of
production at the Steenkampskraal mine) and risks, uncertainties
and other factors that are beyond the control of GWMG, risks
associated with the industry in general, commodity prices and
exchange rate changes, operational risks associated with
exploration, development and production operations, delays or
changes in plans, risks associated with the uncertainty of reserve
or resource estimates, health and safety risks and the uncertainty
of estimates and projections of production, costs and expenses. In
light of the risks and uncertainties associated with
forward-looking statements, readers are cautioned not to place
undue reliance upon forward-looking information. Although GWMG
believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking
statements set out in this press release or incorporated herein by
reference are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such
expectations will prove to have been correct. The forward-looking
statements of GWMG contained in this News Release, or incorporated
herein by reference, are expressly qualified, in their entirety, by
this cautionary statement and the risk factors contained in GWMG's
current annual information form available at www.sedar.com.
CUSIP: 39141Y 10 3
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
Contacts: Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. Dwight Percy Manager
of Investor Relations (306) 659-4500 info@gwmg.ca www.gwmg.ca Great
Western Minerals Group Ltd. 219 Robin Crescent Saskatoon, SK S7L
6M8
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