I'm sure you, like me, are looking forward to an update and progress on this company. I'm going to hand it over to Tim, and there'll be time for questions at the end. Thanks, Tim.
Thanks, Peter. Yeah, look, good opportunity given the recent sort of activity with the company and also the rights issue that we have open at the moment to provide a bit of a rundown on recent developments and activities with shareholders, and also step through some of the recent activities, things that are coming up. Just moving ahead, our cautionary statements. Just recapping on the vision of the business, and it's really around sort of being a key enabler in creating resilient, fully integrated Western rare earth supply chains. Part of that is accelerating and developing the recycling, magnet recycling angle. We, through our 100% owned U.K. subsidiary, Ionic Technologies, are now producing separated magnet rare earth oxides.
In addition to NDPR, which I think a lot of investors in the rare earth space will be conscious of, we are also producing high-purity separated dysprosium and terbium oxide and selling that material right now into supply chain customers, partners who need that material. Up until April of this year, we were able to source some of that material from Asia, from China. However, post the export restrictions that were implemented on the 4th of April, we've seen a huge increase in demand for the separated oxides we produce, specifically those two heavy rare earth elements, dysprosium and terbium, recently selling some of our excess dysprosium for around AUD 900 a kilo. About fourfold on what dysprosium is going for presently in China.
There has been significant appetite for our heavy rare earths, in addition to sending samples off not only to partners in the U.K. and Europe, but also to the U.S., where we are very keen on prioritizing expansion of our footprint and the relationships that we're building in that market. I just want to point out that the base technology on rare earth separation is also what we intend to use for our downstream refining efforts, specifically around the joint venture that we've established with BMM, which is Iberian, looking at refining in Brazil. Why we like recycling is that it's low capital, it's modular, and we can develop it in the backyard of Western governments. It provides a substantially lower risk threshold for our supply chain partners looking at bringing capacity to those Western markets.
The technology, as we mentioned, is modular, it's small, and that enables us to look at how we think about hyperscale. That is the rapid deployment of the technology beyond what we're doing right now in the U.K. Obviously, we've talked about our ambitions in the U.S. In addition to that, we're evaluating opportunities in Brazil with our Iberian joint venture, but Europe, Asia, the Middle East. We have a number of discussions underway at the moment. Beyond that, leveraging that technology with the Iberian joint venture, we also have the Makuutu Heavy Rare Earth project, which is a large Ionic consortium clay deposit in Uganda. It is a development-ready asset. We are in discussions with a number of groups looking at how that asset and the heavy rare earth rich basket flows into an alternative supply chain.
Recapping on that, recycling is the fastest path to supply chain independence away from China and provides us with a product that's very sustainable, providing that fully circular, green supply chain, low risk, low capital, and the ability to integrate in new capacities across metals, alloys, and magnets, which is being developed now. If we talk about now Ionic Technologies and we use the term they're upcycling. The differentiation here on our technology is that we're taking end-of-life materials and a range of different materials, whether they're spent magnets, they're pre-consumer waste, or they're swarf from the production of magnets. We're able to unlock the rare earth content, the individual rare earth elements within, which enables us to then redeploy those individual rare earth elements into higher specification, higher class of magnets.
Really focusing on the differentiation here is our ability to provide that high purity dysprosium and terbium for Western supply chain partners. We've worked through the de-risking of the technology. We've demonstrated the technology at commercial scale, and now we're working through the financing for a commercial plant in Belfast. Talking about the ramp-up and the de-risking of the technology, when we acquired the technology back in 2022, it was at lab scale. Over the course of the last 3+ years, we've invested in de-risking, demonstrating the technology, and providing material for our supply chain partners to validate. We've demonstrated through our demonstration plant the capacity to make and repeatedly make high purity separated oxides. That material now has been leveraged into supply chain partnerships.
We've got public collaborations there with other industry participants and supply chain partners across metals, alloys, and magnets, and the OEMs, the ultimate customers that are very shortly going to have our recycled rare earths in magnets used in electric motors that they're looking at commercializing specifically in the U.K. and Europe as a first pass. Beyond that, the commercialization of the technology, the feasibility study that we completed last year, and looking at having that in production, producing separated oxides in late 2027. Commercially, looking at the financial metrics of that feasibility study, looking at producing 400 tons per annum of separated rare earth oxides, we had a capital estimate in Belfast of AUD 85 million. About AUD 10 million of that was location specific. We're working through the financing and pulling together the capital stack for that development in the U.K. with great support from the U.K. government.
What I'd like to sort of point to the upside here is that when we look at a resource or a reserve in the mining industry, typically we'll see something that diminishes over time. It depletes. The inverse is the case for recycling. What we actually see is that the resource and reserves of material for recycling increase year on year. Whilst we have a 20-year life of operation, the reality is that these are recycling facilities that will continue to recycle and separate and recover those rare earth elements for many, many years to come. It provides a robust de-risk mechanism for customers to be able to secure the materials they need in order to make the magnets and specification of magnets for their products. Those products will continue to evolve and iterate and improve.
As such, the ability to separate our rare earths and then be able to deploy those rare earths on that next generation of magnets becomes increasingly important. We've completed the lifecycle analysis, which we released to the market earlier this year, showing approximately a 60% reduction in CO₂ footprint for both neodymium oxide and dysprosium oxide, and comparing that against the primary supply chain. It does provide a significant advantage to the customers that we're working closely with now. It is an accretive opportunity for us and the way in which we think about commercializing the tech with the partners that have shown interest in adopting our technology and materials in their supply chain. With regards to the capital and securing the overall capital component to develop that first plant in Belfast, or potentially the first plant in Belfast, we mentioned before the AUD 85 million capital estimate for Belfast.
We're in discussions and finalizing those discussions with the Advanced Propulsion Centre, which is administering a large fund for the Automotive Transformation Fund, the Department of Business and Trade in the U.K. Between that capital grant and also working closely with the National Wealth Fund, we see collectively the U.K . being in for and being supportive for around 50% of the overall capital requirement for the Belfast recycling facility.
As we finalize the grant process and all of the additional information that's been requested to satisfy both the U.K. government requirements and also the EU requirements, given where we're located in Northern Ireland, we're working closely now with the Grant Delivery Directorate within the Advanced Propulsion Centre and Department of Business and Trade to get this squared away so that we can finalize that capital, the initial capital, which enables us to then move forward with the strategic partnering for the overall commercial development in Belfast. Back in July this year, we announced the next iteration of our supply chain build-out in the U.K.
The Circular Economy Initiative, which has received approximately AUD 11 million of grant funding from the U.K. government, is working across the full lifecycle and the supply chain for rare earth magnets from the aggregation and end-of-life materials through our supply chain upstream supply chain partner with European Metals Recycling , providing us with end-of-life materials that we then separate into high-purity oxides and send down to our supply chain partners there in Less Common Metals. They make the metals and alloys, delivering that material to two of our existing magnet partners, being Vacuumschmelze and GKN Powder Metallurgy, both located in Germany. They're making magnets that will go into a range of different applications and working closely there publicly with Ford Technologies, Bentley Motors , and Wrightbus.
For those not familiar with Wrightbus, they make the big double-decker London buses, which are all going electric and manufactured in Northern Ireland and exported into Europe now. It is a very big market. In addition to those three parties that we're working with on this supply chain initiative, we're working with some other OEMs as well. Rounding that out with the BGS, the British Geological Survey, and the support of the Advanced Propulsion Center, this is a three-year initiative which also prepares us now to work towards the commercialization of that supply chain in the UK. Belfast as a strategic location has fantastic infrastructure with a deepwater port. That deepwater port is one of the ports, probably the prime port in the U.K. for both the rollout of offshore wind and the decommissioning.
Working closely there with stakeholders and given its position in Northern Ireland, I mentioned previously the Windsor framework, we are working across both the U.K. and European market. That enables us to be able to extract a number of opportunities, which is pretty exciting. With the infrastructure there ourselves and a number of other companies that are moving into and already in the Belfast region, Belfast is establishing itself as a long-term player in the offshore wind rollout and decommissioning process and naturally then provides Ionic with a real advantage on a very big market. Some of the early numbers that we've seen from the BGS suggest that by 2030, 2035, the U.K. will be consuming around 10% of global magnets across the automotive space, but also a rapid rollout of offshore wind.
It is a very big market and a market that will grow and provide a steady flow and a growing flow of magnets for recycling in the future. One of the areas we are doing some work now is around the positioning of the company against our peers and the advantages of the technology against a number of players that are in the space. We as Ionic Technologies operate what's called long-lived recycling, which is effectively taking the end-of-life magnet and going all the way back to the high-purity separated oxides. There are a number of other companies in this rare earth magnet recycling space that are going to various different products along that supply chain.
The classification of their processes is being either a medium loop, which would be going back to a, let's call it a mixed rare earth or an intermediate product, and then the short loop recycling, which is effectively just going back to an alloy powder. There is some real differentiation on the technology. With that differentiation on where that material ends up in the supply chain, what we've been able to do as an organization is demonstrate the relationships that we've been able to build within customers that enable us to be able to then make the magnets at the specifications required to go into the EV industry, to go into offshore wind. That is a differentiator and something that hopefully the market starts to appreciate over coming weeks and months.
It is probably also worth pointing out the disconnect, I think, on perceived valuations for certainly the recycling opportunity and the way in which maybe Australian investors are understanding or perceiving the opportunity on recycling as opposed to the way in which Northern Hemisphere investors are seeing that recycling opportunity. Certainly, the multiples and valuations being applied in both the North American and European markets would infer that there's some significant upside for Ionic Rare Earths and the commercialization of the technology moving forward. When we look at the development of the technology and what we've been able to demonstrate and our advantage on taking the technology from demonstration now to commercialization, we have demonstrated a process that's able to produce high-purity separated rare earth oxides that can take into account highly variable material and can consistently produce the material specification required for our customers.
We're looking at taking the process to a continuous process. We've demonstrated through both lifecycle analyses and feasibility studies the advantages of the technology, both from an environmental footprint and financial metrics. Given the products that we've produced, we've demonstrated that they're suitable to go into the sintered NdFeB magnets to go into EVs and offshore wind. Now talking a little bit about our Iberian joint venture, which is a 50/50 partnership in Brazil between Ionic Rare Earths and Viridis Mining and Minerals , where we're looking at, obviously, in Brazil developing magnet recycling, but also in Brazil and, you know, certainly North America, looking at developing the rare earth separation refining technology and commercializing refining in the first instance in Brazil, with then a view to bringing refining into the North American market.
It's a very exciting opportunity, having just come back from a couple of weeks in Brazil, certainly a wonderful resource base on which to build a downstream supply chain, and a very strong appetite from the Brazilian government to not only just look at the primary assets, but they're wanting to build out the supply chain. Through recycling, we've been able to certainly develop and provide rare earth oxides to new capacity on metals, alloys, and magnets that's being developed in Brazil. I think through Iberian, it provides certainly Ionic Rare Earths with a front row seat to what's going to happen in Brazil, and then being able to take the cloth product and potentially mix rare earth carbonates from other projects in Brazil to separated oxides for the build-out of a much larger Brazilian rare earth supply chain.
Talking about those oxides that we delivered to the team in CIT SENAI in Belo Horizonte earlier this year, we took end-of-life magnets from Brazil, took them across to the U.K., recycled them, sent them back the high-purity oxides. That's through a broader MOU and collaboration, which will be a foundation where we now look to replicate what we're doing in the U.K. on recycling and build that supply chain from recycling in Brazil in the domestic capacity. It's a very exciting opportunity to be part of what could be a very large rare earth supply chain that has all the hallmarks of being long-term cost competitive with the Chinese existing rare earth supply chain. Through Iberian, we've also had really positive engagement with government.
Back in June, we were shortlisted with a $1.4 billion fund, U.S., established by the Brazilian National Bank of Economic and Social Development, so BNDES, and a federal agency that administers studies and projects called FiNet. We were selected as one of a number of projects or submissions applicants to have dialogue and discussions with the government there around helping to build a supply chain. Pleasingly, we were selected in July, and I think I understand we're the only rare earth company that has been selected for that fund, and we're now working with Viridis Mining and Minerals and ourselves in discussions with stakeholders at BNDES and FiNet around the total funding package.
We are very keen to now accelerate, not only leveraging off the back of what's happening with Colossus, but also now engaging with investors and government stakeholders and also some international government stakeholders about what's happening with Iberian and how quickly we can bring that to market. There is a lot of interest in what's happening in Brazil. It has wonderful potential and a very supportive state government, local municipality, and federally to build a much bigger rare earth supply chain. If we talk about the support that we've had there in Poços de Caldas, I was fortunate enough to be there a couple of weeks back where we were able to have a ceremony with the local mayor and municipality, whereby the land that had been granted to Iberian was formally handed over.
On that site, we proposed to build our refinery pilot plant and also the magnet recycling downstream. A very supportive community engagement, really quite impressed with the infrastructure that's available to us, the quality of the team that we've been able to establish, and the very strong local community support for the Iberian joint venture. I feel very bullish about the opportunity in Brazil. Finally, covering off on the Makuutu project, it's probably a project of certainly a lot of significance in a Western supply chain context. It's a development-ready Ionic consortium clay project. It's got a mining license, environmental permits, and being at its advanced status, as a member of the Mineral Security Partnership, a lot of engagement with Western supply chain partners because of its defining basket. 71% of the basket is magnet plus heavy rare earths.
If we zero in on that heavy rare earth fraction, which has become increasingly more sensitive post the 4th of April this year, 45% heavy rare earths is in itself a unique proposition to support certainly the bifurcation of supply chains and developing capability in the U.S. We continue to look and have a number of discussions with stakeholders there, stakeholders in the U.S. around the commercialization and development of Makuutu into a U.S. supply chain. On the back of that, we've completed the feasibility study back in 2023. Mining license has been awarded. It's a large resource that spreads approximately 30 km+ . It is bigger than the island of Manhattan, which I think is something that resonates strongly with potential U.S. stakeholders. For a capital development of around $150 million U.S., it would be a pretty strategic punt and strategic asset to bring into a holistic U.S.
supply chain. We continue to explore options around that. Our strategy in the U.S. is one that leverages off both recycling and the primary supply, bringing all of our assets together and being able to demonstrate a resilient upstream sourcing from both primary and secondary supply of separated magnet and heavy rare earths. Certainly at GEM, Britt Lynch has been in the U.S. for the past two and a half weeks. They're talking about the unique offering with stakeholders in Washington, but also a number of groups that we've been working closely with for a few years now around the holistic positioning of our assets within a much larger resilient rare earth supply chain for the U.S. It's an exciting opportunity and one that requires a lot of engagement, education, and I think as a business now getting very close on being able to take it forward.
The strategic appeal really around the value for what we bring is our ability on recycling to move very quickly to satisfy requirements in the military and defense space. There's been significant investment and a lot of focus on those U.S. supply chain partners over the last few months, significant investment coming from the Department of War into MP Materials and a number of other things that are being worked through at the moment. We do see a very strong focus now on the ability to provide high-purity separated rare earth oxides beyond neodymium-praseodymium, with a lot of focus on dysprosium oxide and terbium oxide now in order to make those magnets and alloys that are required across the defense complex.
I think we're well positioned to not only be able to accelerate the recycling as an immediate stopgap or an immediate remedy for short-term squeeze on availability of this material, but longer-term bring forward the Makuutu project and that heavy rare earth rich basket. Finally, just covering off on the overall corporate position, trading at about AUD 0.015 at the moment, which values at about AUD 80 million . Probably just refreshing and bringing the rights issue to the attention of shareholders who, one, have maybe not yet participated or elected to participate. It is a rights issue. It is a renounceable rights issue, and as such, shareholders have the opportunity, if they don't want to take up their rights, to trade those rights. Trading of those rights closes tomorrow, Thursday, the 2nd of October. The intention at this stage is for the offer to close next Thursday.
Just reminding shareholders that they have until 5:00 P.M. next Thursday, the 9th of October, in order to take up the offering under the rights offer. That's offering approximately one new share for every 15 shares that shareholders possibly have. They're able to take up those shares at AUD 0.016. With each share, there will be one new listed option. Those options will be listed with a strike price of AUD 0.025 and an expiry of 30th September 2028. The options themselves will have a value. I think it's a pretty good opportunity for shareholders to top up before some significant catalysts emerge shortly with certainly the finalization and award of our capital grant in the U.K., but also progress on our U.S. activities and developments that are occurring in Brazil. With that, Peter, pretty exciting time for the company and happy to take some questions.
Thanks, Tim. As you said, a multitude of catalysts. There is a lot going on for a small company, and I know that you and Britt and your team wear many hats and are doing everything possible, as you've demonstrated here in the presentation, which I'm sure shareholders will be happy to have listened to today. We do have quite a few questions. I'm going to kick off with the first one. Ionic Technologies recently hosted a visit by UK Minister Sarah Jones to the Belfast plant. How are you seeing the level of support from the U.K. government and Northern Ireland?
I would say we're very fortunate to have very strong support from the U.K. government, and I think that's been on display for some time now, a raft of different grants that we've been recipients of by the APC. Very strong support there from the Department of Business and Trade and the Advanced Propulsion Center. We work very closely with the U.K. government on not just what we intend to do with the Belfast development, but holistically a rare earth supply chain. I would say we have very strong support from the U.K. government. It was great to host the minister last month. Unfortunately, a cabinet reshuffle has meant that we subsequently now have a new minister, Michael Shanks.
Britt and I were both fortunate enough to meet the new minister earlier this year, and I feel very confident and comfortable that we're well positioned to hopefully very shortly have some very positive public news around the award of a capital grant for a cornerstone investment on our UK Belfast facility.
Thanks, Tim. With that leading to this question, what is the status regarding Ionic's application for funding from the U.K. government via the Automotive Transformation Fund?
Okay, so we provided a lot of information to stakeholders at the APC and the Department of Business and Trade. We're working closely now with the Grant Delivery Directorate and satisfying the requirements of certainly the award of the grant under U.K. law, but also probably worth pointing out and something that we're becoming, I suppose, aware of. You know, we, being in Northern Ireland, we're also subject to some of the rules that apply with the Windsor Framework. That means not only satisfying requirements of the UK Government Subsidy Control Act, but also requirements within the EU under state aid regulations. This is information that we're finding out. We are a bit of a test case. We are the first company that has gone through this process underneath the Windsor Framework.
As you can imagine, there's not a huge amount of companies in Northern Ireland commercializing materials or technology around strategic raw materials and critical raw materials in the U.K. We are, I suppose, a bit of a test case. As such, we're finding out all of the challenges along the way. With the support of the U.K. government, we're addressing all of the requirements. Hopefully, we're not far away now having, I think, satisfied all of the requests from the Department of Business and Trade and APC. Hopefully, yeah, we've got that grant very, very shortly.
Thanks, Tim. I think you covered much of this question in that answer, but what, and you may have mentioned it through the presentation, what's the scale of funding you're expecting from the U.K. government and why do you think it's taking so long to be announced, which I think you may have covered just there?
Yeah, look, I think so total capital, AUD 85 million. I think we've got visibility that we expect across the grants and also support from U.K. government via potentially the National Wealth Fund. We expect probably around 50% of the overall capital, maybe a bit more, to come from the U.K. government. You know, we understand there's a very strategic need for what we're doing. There's very strong support. There is a desire to make this happen. We just have to follow due process. I can appreciate that this has been frustrating for shareholders. I can share that it's been also frustrating for us. I think we follow due process. We have to adhere to the mechanisms and the process that the government has to follow. You know, hopefully we're not far off. I think we've done everything we could have done.
We continue to work very closely with our strong supporters in the U.K. government who want to issue this grant shortly as well.
Fairness of that, Tim, regarding the loan or grant, is there potential for strategic partners or commercial debt from outside that may be considered as part of the package?
Yeah, look, we've been engaging with a number of potential strategic investors. That's been a parallel path that we've been working through. Technical due diligence, we've had visits from groups overseas working through the technology, not only looking at what we're doing in the U.K. , but with a view to the commercialization and rapid rollout of the technology in other markets like the U.S. I think to answer your question, Peter, we've got a number of groups that we're working with. However, I think for any rare earth development, what we've seen is the expectation and desire from investors is that government money probably needs to be the cornerstone first money in. Once the government support is there, there is strong support to get in behind that commitment from government.
Thank you, Tim. That covers that one. We're moving on to Iberian, who recently had a groundbreaking ceremony for their planned Iberian Refinery Center, which is the first in South America. How are you seeing the outlook for the joint venture and Brazil more broadly?
Yeah, look, I have to say, Peter, I had a very, very positive trip. You know, wearing a couple of hats, but focusing on the opportunity with Ionic Rare Earths , the Iberian joint venture gets the opportunity to benefit from a fantastic primary asset with Colossus. Wonderful stakeholder support, wonderful, whether that's at municipality, local community, state government, federal government, the indications and what I heard firsthand, what I observed would suggest that they really have a very unique opportunity. Given the infrastructure that's available, not only to Colossus, but also to Iberian, I think it really has emboldened my view of just how material the opportunity could be with Iberian.
Looking at how we can accelerate the magnet recycling opportunity, working closely and visiting with CIT SENAI in Belo Horizonte, looking at the work that they've been able to do, the facility itself, producing magnets from next year, but then being a key enabler of that Brazilian supply chain by providing them with separated rare earth oxides. I think it really differentiates us. Beyond the opportunity of processing the product from Colossus, there's this opportunity and interest for us to also produce and process mixture of carbonate from some of the other developers in Brazil. I think it is a real differentiator and a huge opportunity that exists in Brazil. Very, very bullish on what I saw and very exciting for the company to think about where we could be within a very short space of time.
Following along from that, we've seen recently the U.S. government taking strategic steps to secure their own domestic supply of critical minerals, lithium, rare earths as well. What's the status of your U.S. expansion? Do you see any other sort of support coming from authorities in the U.S.?
Yeah, look, we've had some really positive engagement in the U.S. that's really ratcheted up over the course of 2025. You know, Britt and I were requested to head to the U.S. in February. By the time we were back in April, the export restrictions and the Chinese turning the tap off was already in force. Bit by bit, every trip back to the U.S. has just been escalating sort of opportunity. It's not just about the recycling. It's the value and the opportunity of Makuutu, I think, that's resonating with stakeholders in the U.S. We're working on a number of things there. I think what we're seeing is U.S. government ready to deploy. I mentioned before, and I think anybody in the rare earth space is acutely aware of the impact that the Department of War's investment in MP Materials had a couple of months back.
It really flipped the switch. We've seen a dramatic increase in certainly the valuation of companies that have got any exposure to the U.S. supply chain. I think what that bodes pretty well for is for Ionic and the, you know, the expansion of that technology into the U.S. market, a very exciting phase, hopefully is just at the doorstep.
Tim, Ionic has stated previously that there is a potential for multiple magnet recycling plants in the U.S. and other markets. Can you add a little bit of color to that statement and update us on where you think that plan is headed?
Yeah, going on from the activity in the U.S., back in April, we made a couple of key appointments to certainly build out the executive capability in the business. We appointed Claire Blanchard to be Commercial Director, helping us with our upstream and downstream sourcing and offtake agreements, but also a lot of that supply chain engagement. We appointed Patrick Brindle as effectively our operations lead for the U.S. Patrick is now working through a number of those opportunities, working with different state regulators and state development agencies around those. We've got a number of discussions happening with various groups, some more advanced than others. Hopefully, we're in a position where we can talk about those publicly very shortly. Looking at sites now for the rollout of the technology, we're about to kick off our front-end engineering design for the recycling technology.
Thinking about how we develop this design so that it can be rapidly deployed across our target markets potentially opens up our ability to develop based upon existing infrastructure, existing facilities, simply bring skid-mounted capability that can be rapidly deployed, meaning that we can very quickly roll out the technology and work with our supply chain partners, not only the end-of-life applications, but also working closely with new metal alloy magnet capacity being established in the U.S. We've been and sent materials off to the U.S. to work with some of the groups that we're working on now about qualifying materials, making metals, alloys, magnets for some of their customers, demonstrating our materials in the supply chain. It's a pretty exciting phase. Certainly, what's happened and what's happening over 2025 in the U.S. market and the opportunity for rare earths is incredibly exciting for the business.
Tim, some questions regarding Less Common Metals and the recent takeover activity that's occurred there. Do you see that relationship changing, more beneficial or otherwise?
Yeah, look, I don't see the relationship changing. I think we've got a very good relationship. Subsequent to that transaction, we've had dialogue with LCM. I think it's business as usual. We're working collectively on the U.K. supply chain. We will work collectively on the U.S. supply chain. I think we have technology and a business offering that's complementary beyond those two markets. We are looking at working and providing materials to customers across Asia as well. I think we're in a pretty unique position. We've got a very strong relationship. It's a great deal for LCM It certainly values LCM at an appreciable amount. I think it's a great deal for LCM. I think USA Rare Earths can see the value in that business and that technology. I think U.S.
investors, certainly based upon what we're seeing as market capitalizations and the way in which they're valuing companies in the rare earth space, it probably turns out to be a very cheap acquisition in the long run.
Thanks, Tim. This question is always hard to talk about, your own share price and the market's perspective on evaluation. Recently, after the MP Materials deal and China export controls, a number of rare earth companies have seen re-rating. The latest investor research from MSC Access values Ionic at about AUD 0.11 a share, which is a bit different to what we're seeing here in the market today. I know you're happy to address this. It's a good opportunity. What steps do you think are necessary to close that gap?
Yeah, look, I think there's a number of things. I think shareholders are waiting patiently for the validation, the validation that comes from the supply chain, that comes from government. We are aware of the impact of the grant and the validation and the cornerstone commitment from the U.K. government. I think that that's potentially a big step towards a re-rate. I think what we have seen is any company that's got an association with the U.S. supply chain in the rare earth space has really seen their share price rocket. I think we've been working behind the scenes to position the company. Hopefully, we're in a position to benefit from those same, I suppose, re-rating events on the back of what potentially comes shortly with our U.S. supply chain and U.S. footprint. It's great for those companies and hopefully for Ionic where next.
It is just a matter of some of these catalysts being achieved, Tim, and I'm sure market perception will change very quickly given the fundamentals that you've put in place. We're going to finish up here just with a bit of a comment from you to shareholders on why they should be confident in the future and what you want them to look forward to for this company, Ionic Rare Earths.
Okay, thanks, Peter. Look, I suppose, you know, offering this deal to shareholders via the renounceable rights issue, it is an attractive deal. We've priced options or priced the new shares with the listed option. The listed option itself will have a value. I think if we look at the pricing of the options, the company has been trading within that price range within the last three months. I think there is inherent value in the rights issue at AUD 0.016. I think near-term upside for not only the return on the subscription with the rights, but also the options. I think it presents a wonderful opportunity for shareholders. Shareholders get the first right to take up the offer. I'm confident that if they're issued for, that there's certainly strong demand to pick that up. We did want to make sure that the shareholders got the best deal.
I think that that's what we've been able to do here.
Very well, Tim. I think you've pretty comprehensively outlined the plan here, the strategy, the mechanics which are going on behind the scenes. I know that you and Britt have traversed the globe and left no stone unturned to progress the great technology that you've developed and the company that you've put together. I would thank you today for your presentation, Tim. I thank everybody here who's joined us. If there were further questions that we'd like Tim to answer, please email them through to me at peter@nwrcommunications.com.au. I see that Tim gets them. Tim, I guess you've got a bit more work to do.
Always, always, Peter. There's always stuff happening. We look forward to the support of shareholders with this rights issue and then some near-term catalysts and a strong re-rate.
Thanks very much, Tim. Thanks everybody for joining us.