Molycorp purchases remaining shares of European rare earth processing company
October 25, 2011
Molycorp, Inc., USA, has announced that it has purchased the remaining shares of Molycorp Silmet AS, one of only two rare earth processing companies in Europe. Molycorp now owns 100% of the Sillamäe, Estonia-based facility, known as Molycorp Sillamäe.
As reported in April this year, Molycorp, the only rare earth oxide (REO) producer in the Western Hemisphere and the largest REO producer outside of China, purchased a 90.023% stake in AS Silmet in a transaction valued at approximately US$89 million. The purchase price for the remaining shares was proportionately the same as the price of the original share acquisition.
“Our purchase of the Silmet facility has proven to be highly accretive to Molycorp’s global operations, and we see this purchase of the remaining shares of Molycorp Sillamäe as bringing additional value to our company,” stated Mark A. Smith, Molycorp’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Molycorp Sillamäe’s people and their collective years of expertise in rare earth and rare metal production, particularly in the manufacture of high-purity products, are truly world-class. We are enthusiastically exploring options for additional upgrades and production expansion at this facility.”
Smith noted that Molycorp recently succeeded in establishing neodymium metal production at the Sillamäe facility, achieving another key milestone in Molycorp’s build-out of a global mine-to-magnets manufacturing supply chain.
“I’m very pleased that Mr. Tiit Vähi, Chairman of the Board of AS Silmet Grupp and former Prime Minister of Estonia, and Mr. Lauri Karp will remain on the Supervisory Board of Molycorp Sillamäe,” Smith added. “They provide extraordinary insight and perspective into European markets, as well as in business strategy and technology development.”
Edited by: Paul Whittaker, Editor ipmd.net, [email protected]
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