Appia Energy Corp. (CSE:API) (OTCQB:APAAF.US) (Germany: A0I.F, A0I.MU, A0I.BE) is pleased to announce that in accordance with the Canada-U.S. Joint Action on Critical Minerals Collaboration announced in December 2019, the Company has submitted a proposal with respect to addressing the security of the heavy rare earth element supply chain in the United States. In particular, the important heavy REEs are dysprosium, terbium, samarium, europium and gadolinium. 

The proposal is in regard to Appia’s Alces Lake, Saskatchewan project, which has some of the highest grade rare earth oxide mineralization in the world, hosted in monazite. A sample of the mineralization exposed at surface will be extracted this summer for recovery processing testing at the Saskatchewan Research Council’s separation pilot plant and REE processing facility in Saskatoon, SK. SRC has the processing resources, capabilities and proven team expertise to produce heavy REOs from monazite mineralization hosting the REEs at Alces Lake. 

Mr. James Sykes, Appia’s Vice-President, Exploration and Development commented: “This could be a big step forward for Appia.  Many technical features of the Alces Lake REE project are comparable to the Mt. Weld operation (Lynas Corporation Ltd., Australia), which supplies more than 10% of global REO production, and is the largest producer outside of China.  Alces Lake has naturally high concentrations of heavy REEs, such as dysprosium and terbium, required for defense applications as well as high tech applications such as magnets required for the electric vehicle industry, wind turbines and other electronic applications.  

Procurement of REEs by the United States has been mentioned frequently in the mainstream media over the course of 2019 to minimize the dependence on China for the supply of REEs.

The Province of Saskatchewan’s recent growth plan includes an aggressive two-year target for a commercially viable REE production demonstration plant, which could be important for Appia’s Alces Lake project.

“Establishing a REE supply chain in North America is important to Canada, the Province of Saskatchewan, and the United States, and Appia believes it could become a major contributor to this endeavour.” stated Mr. Sykes.

The Company advises that the Alces Lake project as of this time does not have demonstrated quantified mineral resources, and does not have a prefeasibility study demonstrating economic and technical viability for developing a commercially mineable project.

The information and technical content in this news release was reviewed and approved by Dr. Irvine R. Annesley, P.Geo, Advisor to Appia’s Board of Directors, and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.   

About Appia

Appia is a Canadian publicly traded company in the uranium and rare earth element sectors.  The Company is currently focusing on delineating high-grade critical rare earth elements (“REE”) on the Alces Lake property, as well as prospecting for high-grade uranium in the prolific Athabasca Basin. The Company holds the surface rights to exploration for 57,048 hectares (140,968 acres) in Saskatchewan.

The Company also has a 100% interest (subject to a 1% Uranium Production Payment Royalty and a 1% Net Smelter Return Royalty on any precious or base metals payable, provided that the price of uranium is greater than US$130 per pound) in 12,545 hectares (31,000 acres), including rare earth element and uranium deposits over five mineralized zones in the Elliot Lake Camp, Ontario, which historically produced over 300 million pounds of U₃O₈ and is the only Canadian camp that has had significant rare earth element (yttrium) production.  The deposits are largely unconstrained along strike and down dip.

Appia’s technical team is directed by James Sykes, who has had direct and indirect involvement with over 550 million lbs. U₃O₈ being discovered in five deposits in the Athabasca Basin.

Appia has 73.8 million common shares outstanding, 94.7 million shares fully diluted.