Tim is going to give us an update here today and walk through the presentation to let us know where Ionic Rare Earths is currently progressing. I'm gonna hand it over to you, Tim, and we'll have some questions at the end.
Great. Thanks, Peter. Yeah, look, opportune time for us to connect with shareholders and provide some color on some of the recent developments and ongoing activities across the business. Certainly, you know, now with our grant confirmed with the Advanced Propulsion Centre, we're moving forward on a number of fronts, specifically with the U.K. Just our disclaimer. Very high-level overview of the business for new investors. We're developing and commercializing magnet recycling technology, which is a subset of the rare earth separation refining IP that the company has. Focusing on the recycling piece right now as we look at developing capability in the U.K. on the potential to supply materials into the energy transition, whether that's electric vehicles, offshore wind.
During this geopolitical period, increasing focus on the application of our products in the defense sector, an area of a lot of growth and opportunity we expect across robotics and AI. We're producing separated Rare Earth Oxides from our recycling tech. If we look at the schematic there on the right. Looking at end-of-life materials and also the pre-production, pre-consumer waste, whether that's swarf from the production of magnets or magnet material that may be rejected in the process or other end-of-life materials coming back into a hydrometallurgical process where we're able to then separate the individual rare earth elements. We've focused on initially the bulk of the value in the rare earth supply chain, which is NdPrDyTb, demonstrating our ability to separate that.
However, on the magnets that we've processed over the last three years, we've seen a range of other elements that are present from time to time in the magnets, and so applying the technology now, and tweaking the flow sheet to be able to extract out a range of other heavy rare earths, which are again in significant demand at the moment given the export controls that were put in place by China last year. Again, is a positive step towards the development and commercialization of our full refining suite. You know, things have been moving along extremely positively there with our geopolitical product offering and the focus of the company. Yeah, if we look at the geology, geography I should say, of the company and where we're located, obviously the head office at the moment in Australia.
We're commercializing U.K. technology in the U.K. in Belfast, we can anticipate significantly more greater presence in the U.K. in the near term. We've got our Makuutu project in Uganda, which is a large shovel-ready ionic adsorption clay project. Moving to Brazil, we've got our Viridion joint venture, which we're in partnership with Viridis Mining and Minerals, looking at deploying both the recycling and refining technology in the Brazilian market. Probably one of the most exciting areas for the company at the moment is the opportunity emerging in the U.S., where we are seeing significant appetite to take our technology on recycling and deploy that across multiple sites in the U.S.
If we have a quick look at the corporate snapshot of the business, you know, as of the start of last week, share price was AUD 0.28, inferring a market cap of a bit over AUD 60 million. Just for the board and the executive team. Obviously in addition to the board, earlier this year, we added two strategic advisors, adding Constantine Karayannopoulos, who's had a long and distinguished career in the rare earth industry, as CEO of Neo Performance Materials. Constantine joined as a strategic advisor in February, along with James Rutherford, who, based in the U.K., has a long and distinguished career in public equity markets.
Also, on the boards, and in, you know, significant roles leading the development of a number of significant companies, including, you know, Centamin, which was a U.K.-based business, and also was previously a director on the board of Anglo American. Just touching upon the industry overview and, I suppose just a refresher, and some, you know, new developments over the course of the last sort of 12 months when it comes to rare earths. You know, the ongoing demand for rare earth elements has continued to grow at around about 7%-8%, driven by a number of key thematics. You know, we've got the energy transition, we've got, you know, whether that's across the EV sector.
You've also got the deployment across renewables, such as offshore wind, which are driving a considerable demand for a range of magnet rare earths. One of the areas that we do anticipate will continue to drive, not just NdPr, but a range of other heavy rare earths, is in the military and defense sector, where on the back of the NATO meeting in 2025, member nations there have agreed to increase the spending on defense up to 5% of GDP by the end of 2035. We can anticipate a significant increase in the amount of investment that's going across the defense sector, and that's going to increase the demand across a range of heavy rare earths. We do anticipate continued focus in this area.
In addition to those areas, we're also seeing dramatic potential upside that comes from the deployment of AI technology and the data centers that support AI, and then the robotics side of the business. I think, you know, beyond those projections, we can potentially see a significant increase on those thematics alone. From a geopolitics, certainly 2025 was an interesting year. Culminating with a range of initiatives that happened late last year, across the sector and rolling into, you know, some interesting developments at the start of 2026. You know, central to a lot of the strategy there for the business is, you know, the engagement that we're having across the U.S. and U.K. markets and for that matter, the European market.
You know, we continue to engage heavily with the U.K. government, the U.S. government, on the deployment of our technology as being a key enabler on the supply of initially, magnet rare earth elements, that can go into new industry. Also looking at leveraging our technology on a range of different potential feed streams to unlock those heavy rare earths and put those back into industry.
One thing that I would point investors to is, you know, a very interesting date later this year, October 2026, when, you know, we'll start to see some potential step changes in the rollout and implementation of export controls and again, focusing on specifically heavy rare earths, and leveraging China's complete dominance in the production of those materials into Western supply chains. Whilst there was a reprieve in October 2025, or effectively a stay of execution for 12 months, effectively, you know, we do anticipate that come later this year that those export controls are put back in place and potentially having significant impact on Western manufacturing base.
The company's been doing a lot of work on certainly the opportunity that's emerging now in the U.S. and, over the course of, you know, the last nine, 10 months, in the U.S. alone, we've seen a tremendous amount of government money, or catalytic capital, being deployed, which has encouraged investment coming from public and private markets, in and alongside government to be part of what is now a substantial build-out of the U.S. Mine-to-Magnet strategy. Collectively, we're looking at around about $13 billion U.S., which is being deployed across the Mine-to-Magnet strategy in the U.S., and significant investment on the magnet space.
That investment on new magnet capacity in the U.S., you know, basically is making up approximately seven facilities that will produce somewhere in the order of 45,000 tons of Neodymium-I ron-B oron magnet capacity. Now, you know, if we go back and have a look at sort of the roles in which and the way in which magnet capacity is made, starting out with the Rare Earth Oxides. Those Rare Earth Oxides are converted to metals, then alloys, magnets, block magnets, and then the finished magnet. Depending on the type of magnet and the application, you know, the amount of swarf that can be generated is appreciable.
If we start out with roughly 100 units of rare earth, rare earths in the form of oxides produced from refining, going through the production of metals, alloys, block magnet, and finally the finished magnet, that can result in somewhere from 100 units we start with ending up with somewhere in the order of 60-75 units as finished magnets. As a result, you end up with an appreciable amount of swarf that's generated in this process, whether that's coming from metals and alloys or the production of magnets and shaping of magnets. If we think about those numbers, we think about 45,000 being the NdFeB magnet capacity that's going out as finished magnets. That'll generate somewhere in the order of 20,000 tons per annum of swarf.
If we think about, you know, what does that look like for Belfast relative to the opportunity in the U.S.? Well, if Belfast is processing 1,200 tons of feed material, and there's potentially 20,000 tons of opportunity in the U.S., that would infer that, you know, at least 17 potential Belfasts makes up just the swarf opportunity in the U.S. alone. You know, we're having a lot of engagement with the supply chain in the U.S. market across the metal manufacturing base, where we see the deployment of our technology being, you know, a real step change and a huge opportunity for the company as we look at expanding into that market. Our technology being long-loop recycling is able to take that material all the way back to high purity oxides.
Given the way in which some of that material that's generated in swarf is generated through cutting and shaping of the magnets, typically the material can be in a slurry form. It's probably doesn't lend itself extremely kindly to other forms of recycling, such as short loop recycling. You know, we have a real advantage with our technology, and we're looking to leverage that into the U.S. market. Looking at the business and where we are now, effectively there's three clear development activities that are happening in the business today. We've got our Ionic Technologies business which is commercializing IP on rare earth separation and targeting that technology or applying that technology now to recycling.
We have completed, or in the process of, working through the permitting for the Belfast facility. We are about to initiate front-end engineering design and working through the finalization of a capital stack to commercialize the technology in Belfast. As I mentioned earlier, we've got GBP 12 million already from the U.K. government. If we think about the total capital build-out being GBP 85 million, you know, we're anticipating some additional funding coming from the U.K. government. Then with the support of strategic investors, we will be able to close out that capital stack for Belfast over coming months.
The Viridion opportunity, where we're looking at commercializing and replicating the recycling technology in Brazil, but also looking at going downstream with a refinery that can process the Colossus Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate, is a very exciting opportunity and one that I think will have the potential to look to process other Mixed Rare Earth Carbonates in the Brazilian market. If we think about the opportunity in Brazil certainly has the potential to be, you know, effectively a China two source of rare earths or primary flow of rare earths for decades to come into the European U.S. markets. Finally, we've got our Makuutu project, which I mentioned before was a shovel-ready, development-ready project. The company has been evaluating opportunities to monetize the project and realize value.
We're zeroing in now on some opportunities and hopefully we're in a position to provide some color on those opportunities to the market shortly. From an investment highlights perspective, we do see, you know, there's a, you know, a number there of, you know, investment thesis, opportunities for the company and how we have positioned ourselves now to be an early mover in the deployment of recycling. With the fact that and our news this morning around the production of, or the first time that anybody in the West has produced magnets that have passed a electric drive unit analysis from recycled oxides is a very strong endorsement on the technology and the product. We are a first mover in the space.
The economics on the Belfast facility is one of many plants that the company looks to build and, you know, extremely good economics that we were able to announce in late 2024. If we fast-forward now 18 months, we see substantially higher rare earth prices currently, with no near-term mechanism for viable supply of heavy rare earths coming online to offset the insatiable demand for the West on that material. We do anticipate stronger for longer appetite for heavy rare earths and ongoing bifurcation of supply chain. Meaning that there is a strong appetite for Western NdPr and a very strong appetite for recycled oxides. Third point there, we've got extremely strong government support from the U.K. government. We announced the grant earlier this year.
We do anticipate additional support coming from the U.K. government and continued dialogue between the company and the government, and other Western governments as we look to now deploy our tech, leverage our tech into new relationships and supply chain initiatives to support Western governments, and deploying our technology in target jurisdictions. There is a big opportunity for the company now to explore the U.S. market. Our patented IP, patented technology on rare earth separation, which we've applied now to recycling, provides an agnostic path for a range of different materials, a range of different magnet compositions to be processed within our technology. That is a step change and a point of differentiation on alternatives, and peers currently in the recycling space.
We continue to have a lot of dialogue with partners across the value chain, whether they be end-use customers, whether they be metals, alloys manufacturing, or magnet manufacturing companies as well. So we will, as we now look to progress Belfast, we're in discussions with, you know, a number of those groups on potential to deploy the technology into these new supply chains. The sixth point there, Viridion and our joint venture with Viridis, I think is a fantastic opportunity that provides real long, long-term upside for the business. In the Brazilian market, I think a great advantage or a great opportunity to capitalize on the early mover positioning that the company has there, and the strong engagement support we have from the Brazilian government.
Point seven is our Makuutu project, and whilst we have a development-ready project, we are looking at the potential value that we can monetize from Makuutu in the western supply chain and how we best position the project to do so. Finally, if we think about where the company is, we are near term on commercialization, and that provides the company and investors with the potential for multiple assets nearing production. With that, you know, significant reroute potential for the company moving forward. Go back and have a look now a little bit at Ionic Technologies and just where we are for any new investors to the story.
In Belfast, we have acquired technology out of Queen's University Belfast, and since acquiring the technology in April 2022, we've built a demonstration plant which has enabled us to generate the material to de-risk the supply chain, to de-risk the commercialization of the technology, and to be able to validate the products with customers and government. We are producing material, so a range of separated heavy rare earths and also NdPr. We make high purity NdPr oxide, high purity dysprosium oxide, high purity terbium oxide, and we're in discussions to expand that now to produce gadolinium, holmium, a range of other materials for potential customers.
The data that we've generated from our demonstration plant has been folded back in to help us develop the feasibility study on commercialization of the technology in the U.K., but also to validate the carbon footprint of the materials we produce. Finally, with that demonstration plant and the materials that we're making, we're sending that and putting that in the hands of our supply chain partners, such that we can validate the materials, the value chains that some of our customers are looking to do. You know, as we put out some news earlier today, the first time that anybody's been able to produce those recycled materials to validate recycled magnets against the primary supply. You know, we're at Technology Readiness Level 8, next step is commercialization of the technology.
We have got a tremendous asset there in Belfast, and probably is my best marketing tool, given, you know, as a platform, the number of visitors that we've had and continue to have through the facility and the programs that we're doing with a range of different customers. For the feasibility study we completed in November 2024, you know, GBP 85 million to build the facility in Belfast on the water in Queen's Island, in the Belfast Harbour. If we think about what rare earth pricing has done in that 18 months, we've seen dramatic increase in both the dysprosium and terbium price. We've seen the NdPr price effectively double.
As we think about, well, how does that translate to potential economics, you know, we had a 2.4-year payback in November 2024. With rare earth prices effectively doubling that period, you know, would in further potential for that payback period to significantly reduce. The economics in November 2024 were obviously favorable, and we would suggest that those numbers will continue to get better, pointing out that obviously the cost profile is likely to be affected in, you know, current period with, you know, some of our reagents being, you know, highly leveraged to the flow of materials out of the Middle East.
I think, you know, the increase in offset on OPEX cost is probably likely to be insignificant relative to the increase in rare earth pricing that we're seeing at the moment. On the supply chain and the value chain, obviously with the government support, we've got the GBP 12 million offer in principle that we received earlier this year. We're working through the due diligence with U.K. government on that with the Department for Business and Trade. You know, effectively that's mostly all done now. We're just doing a couple of other things plus some additional due diligence we're working through with the U.K. government for potentially additional funding. We remain on track to have that funding completed within the timeframe that we've set ourselves.
On the back of, you know, the support that we've got financially from the U.K. government, we've also had the support from the U.K. government working with partners in the U.K. ecosystem, whether that be upstream with EMR, downstream with Less Common Metals, which was recently acquired by USA Rare Earth, or ultimately the customers, whether that be Ford, Bentley, Wrightbus. You know, we are bringing that ecosystem together. We're validating that, and that's incredibly important for the next phase of the development of the supply chain in the U.K.
If we talk about the U.K. government support, we're also in discussions with U.S. government interests on our ability to progress our MOU with U.S. Strategic Metals and some other things that we're doing in the U.S. with additional U.S. government funding to accelerate the rollout of the technology in the U.S. market. On the feedstock and the technology, we're able to process a range of different feedstocks, and that gives us a real competitive advantage. We can process materials and magnets that some of our peers can't. We can also take the significant variability in the composition of rare earths that are coming through in those magnets.
Again, providing Ionic with real competitive advantage over the peers in the space and our ability to then take those rare earths and produce very high purity separated products for downstream value addition. We've continued to develop IP. In addition to the initial IP that we acquired in 2022, we've filed another three patents and we've got additional R&D underway, which will be part of the next wave of rare earth separation IP that the company will file. We continue to develop key relationships across the supply chain. If we go to the magnet manufacturers, one of those relationships we've got in Korea is with JS Link. In addition to that, there's a raft of other magnet manufacturers that we're working with.
On the upstream, we're working with EMR in the U.K., and we continue to work with some other discussions with groups that have got access to magnets in other markets. Finally, you know, working with supply chain or strategic partners, I should say, in key markets. You know, case in point being our November 2025 MoU with U.S. Strategic Metals, whereby we do see the opportunity to expand the footprint of the technology dramatically in the U.S. market. On the Brazilian JV, Viridion. We have a long-standing partnership with Viridis. We continue to work on downstream value addition, starting with recycling, but culminating in the development of a refinery that can take the mixed rare earth carbonate from the Colossus project and separate it into the value elements.
We are in the process of, you know, rolling out that recycling footprint in Brazil, and discussions with the team there on the potential to deploy and build initial phase of magnet recycling, which will help us build technical competency in the Brazilian market. In addition to that, progressing the joint venture refinery technical facility in Poços de Caldas. The team, specifically the team in Brazil, is having ongoing discussions with the Brazilian government on their $1.4 billion program where the Viridion project was shortlisted. I think it was the only rare earth project selected in addition to the Colossus project as part of that $1.4 billion program.
We remain in extremely strong position in the front of the queue for significant funding as the project now move forward. Beyond that, looking at how we can expand the footprint on downstream refining in the U.S. market. I think, you know, it's something that both Ionic and Viridis are quite excited about. If we think about Makuutu now, you know, we are looking at how we can as, you know, and assessing options as a business on how we realize value from the Makuutu project, especially on the back of, you know, a substantial transaction less than a month ago with the Serra Verde project in Brazil.
You know, the company and our partners in Rwenzori Rare Metals are evaluating opportunities and how we move forward and, you know, how the company could now position itself as more of a technology midstream refiner and recycling business, which I think has the potential for a significantly strong investment thesis from generalist investors in the northern hemisphere. I think, you know, the company is looking at a number of exciting opportunities with regards to Makuutu that potentially could be a significant unlock for the company and lead to a re-rate on the share price.
If we think now about, you know, what's happening, what's gonna, you know, be the drivers, the engine room for the company and the share price over coming months, quarters and years is zeroing in on, you know, the short term is really the Belfast opportunity. Belfast on paper is the most advanced project that we have in as far as a technology that is mature, is developed, is TRL 8. Next step is commercialization. Where we sit now working through the front-end engineering design, or about to start the front-end engineering design, having just completed a bridging study, getting ready for the rollout of that work.
We've initiated the permitting process. We're working through the financing due diligence with obviously the Advanced Propulsion Centre, but other institutions and strategics on completing the funding stack for Belfast. We expect to have that completed at the end of the third quarter. On the back of that, be in a position to launch straight into our long lead items for the Belfast facility with construction starting in 2027, and the ramp up and commissioning of the asset in 2028. In the medium term, you know, there is a potential for the U.S. opportunity to potentially jump the queue depending on the nature of some of the discussions that the company is having now in the U.S.
Certainly a very strong appetite for more than one plant in the U.S. over a very short space of time, which probably has a lot to do with the pending export restrictions and dates that are expected to, or, you know, October dates later this year, which are expected to potentially heighten the need for an alternative source for a range of heavy rare earths. In addition to focusing just on our NdFeB recycling, so, you know, the production of NdPr, dysprosium, and terbium, we're looking at adding capacity for the production of samarium, gadolinium, holmium, yttrium, a range of other heavy rare earths that are incredibly important for a raft of different strategic applications in the U.S.
Then longer term, looking at that opportunity in the Brazilian context, you know, the deployment of that technology in the Brazilian market. Also, long term, the potential refining separation of the Colossus Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate and other Mixed Rare Earth Carbonates in Brazil into separated oxides and then marketing those materials into supply chains in the northern hemisphere. Finally, just to wrap up with some, you know, thematic and, you know, more general sort of advantages for the company and what we're doing relative to, you know, the technology deployment and our ability to quickly take advantage of pricing opportunities.
We've certainly seen dramatic impact of the export restrictions on pricing across the European and U.S. markets over the course of the last 10 plus months, with dramatic increases in the prices for dysprosium oxide and terbium oxide, and also the opportunity with yttrium oxide. You know, in addition to that, we've seen dramatic increases in the prices for gadolinium, samarium. Beyond that, again, company gets inundated with requests for other heavy rare earths. You know, I think we are in a wonderful potential environment for the company to get real value and traction on the deployment of the technology, producing high purity oxides for a range of different advanced manufacturing applications.
The technology, when we compare that to some of our peers in the space and even, you know, those that are more widely known in the space compared to, you know, more recent entrants into the recycling space. You know, we've demonstrated the viability of the technology, we've validated the products, we're building supply chains, and we're putting material in the hands of our supply chain customers. From a, you know, looking at our technology, and I think there's an ecosystem whereby all of these certainly exist because the sheer size and magnitude of the U.S. market alone is really very significant.
Whilst we anticipate multiple sites operating in the U.S. as part of that, we can certainly see an ecosystem where a number of our potential peers are in that space. Given the advantages of our technologies and opportunities with the products that others are producing, we do see the potential opportunity to work with all of these players, whether taking feed material from them or, you know, material that needs further separation, and being able to unlock that within the U.S. supply chain as being something that really does position us with a very unique offering.
Finally, just with the carbon footprint, while the CO2 footprint of our technologies, and our products are important in some markets and probably less so important in other markets today, we believe that long term, the CO2 footprint will continue to be a real driver for industry as they look to be able to compete and offset the cost of carbon, which will flow on to customers.
In addition to the successes that we've been able to identify here, the company continues to look for ways and means in which we can further reduce the carbon footprint and ultimately position ourselves with a very unique advantage and offering to a raft of different end users who have a much keener focus on the overall carbon footprint for their products and customers, you know, aware of where these materials go longer term. It remains a focus for the business and how we can really differentiate our products in those new supply chains. If we think about, you know, to leave investors with the advantages of recycling versus primary and primary supply.
I think, you know, while recycling will never supplement all of the primary supply, what it does is it provides a mechanism for the supply chain to start building out. Priming the pump, if you will, of the supply chain. On the back of recycling, we will be able to certainly facilitate the production of new magnets, the production of new metal capacity, and with that, work closely with that capacity as it comes online and helps it grow to a volume that can then support the flow of primary supply from, you know, mine supply through refined capacity. Over the next decade, there'll be, you know, a handful of mines built and refineries built to be able to process that.
In that interlude, you know, we do see the recycling footprint being a very rapid mover. That we expect will give us some scale much faster than certainly the primary supply will. You know, we're very bullish on the opportunity in the near term on recycling and the ability to develop this capacity in the backyard of Western governments. With that, Peter, you know, that's where we are. We've had a pretty interesting past few months for the company, progressing different activities and, yeah, keen to answer a few questions.
Thanks, Tim. Certainly detailed, comprehensive, and pretty positive too for shareholders to see what's going on. There's a lot of things happening. We have a few questions here for you to cover off, which should fill in some of the gaps for shareholders. Just how big an opportunity for Ionic Rare Earths could rare earth permanent magnet recycling be? I mean, you're working right in it at the moment. You're establishing a lot of supply chains and relationships. How big is this opportunity for your company?
I think, if we go back to just the, you know, 45,000 tons of NdFeB capacity generating 20,000 tons of swarf alone. That's just the swarf opportunity. That's not the end of life, you know? I think, certainly recycling provides a mechanism in a very short space of time for the West to have some sovereign capacity. I also think that whilst primary supply long-term will come online, you know, the experience from Lynas, from MP Materials, even to some degree Serra Verde, there's a lot of lessons learned for the industry. Probably does show that primary supply chains and products do take a little bit longer. There is more risk.
Getting product at a certain specification isn't as easy as people think. I think the advantage for ourselves is, you know, with what we've been able to do on recycling, we can get to the product specification much faster. It's a much simpler approach from a capital deployment, from a permitting perspective. I think as a result, recycling probably grows much faster than people here in Australia, investors in Australia probably appreciate. I think we've had extremely strong appetite in the Northern Hemisphere from a range of different groups that are wanting to work with us now commercializing the technology. It has a huge upside.
I think, you know, to answer the question, Peter, I think this is a much, much bigger opportunity than the Australian investment community is probably appreciating at the moment. Hopefully over the course of coming months, we'll have some, you know, some of those significant catalysts that emerge that helps inform the investment community on what that opportunity really will look like.
I don't think I need to remind our audience here just how long it takes to get a new mine up, permitted, financed, built, and into operation, let alone being successfully ramped up and into stable production. Number two, with the news released today, Ionic was the first Western producer of recycled individually separated magnet REOs into a recycled magnet for electric vehicles. Why has IXR been able to do this, and what else do you see as being Ionic's key points of difference?
Yeah, look, again, the news this morning is very, very significant because, again, for the customer base to develop products like these and start moving to the next phase and talking about, you know, it's not so much about offtake. It's this flow of material. They have access to material. They're wanting to validate supply chains. They're trying to daisy chain metals alloys magnet capacity with supply of oxides. It's quite a complex ecosystem and trying to piece this all together.
I think the validation of our material through the value chain, you know, and the work that's been done, the work on the quality of the metal, the quality of the alloy, the performance of magnets, all of those things is, you know, a set of ticks in the column now for the technology as we move to the next phase of discussions on these new supply chains. You know, hugely successful program. Probably took us a little bit longer, or took the consortium a bit longer than we would have liked, but we've got there. We're expanding that out.
We're adding some other OEMs into the space, who make different magnets or have need for different magnets. You know, this is a very significant moment for us and the validation that comes from that. You know, there are some other things we've been doing for other customers which are not public, which are also progressing, you know, forward in a similar manner. I think, you know, the validation that comes from Ford now publicly, but hopefully some other parties soon, is key for us to move forward on these relationships. Why have we been able to do it and no one else has been able to do it?
Simply because we can separate, because every magnet manufacturer or every OEM has a different specification on the alloy composition. They have different specifications on, you know, how much NdPr, how much dysprosium, how much terbium is being used. You can't do that with other technologies if you're not separating it. We can then work with the magnet manufacturers to make the materials in a form that they can then blend as in per the specification that they're looking to make. It is, it's a real advantage for the technology. It's a real advantage for ourselves and the relationships. And why, you know, typically we're working very closely with the magnet manufacturers now across a range of different geographies with OEMs looking to do the same.
Thanks, Tim. Here's one that's about Belfast. What is the status then with Belfast? Previously it was stated that the timeline for commercial plant was 2027, now it's 2028. FID timeline was first half of 2026, now it's end of Q3 2026. The timelines do continue to be pushed further out. What can you tell us about the cause of these delays? If the investment isn't as attractive as you make it out to be, why are there such delays to obtaining the required finance and therefore the continued delayed timelines? It seems, and from this presentation today, that you've got this wrapped up pretty well with a nice bow. We're still lacking that finance.
Yeah, look, it's complex because, again, as I mentioned before, for a number of these initiatives, you're trying to daisy chain, you know, our recycled materials into metals, alloys, magnets, visibility across the supply chain, and there's a lot of change. There's a lot of other factors that are happening, you know, relatively frequently. Look, the delays that we've experienced effectively pushed the timeline back six months, reflects some of the delays that we've had with other first parts of the capital, which, you know, we're able to satisfy earlier this year. Now we've got visibility on other aspects in the financing and the capital stack that are progressing. I've just come back from the U.K., where we had discussions last week with some of those potential investors about their timeline, and our timeline is aligned.
Hence the updated timeline we've put out to the market is our latest understanding, collectively with the potential investors that we're looking to bring into the project. We're now in a position to provide that context. If we think about what we're doing relative to some of the primary assets that have been trying to finance their projects for a decade or more, I think, you know, it's a reflection that's not the easiest thing in the world to finance rare earth projects. I think, you know, we're at the cusp of being able to move, you know, with a six month delay relative to where we started last or at the end of last year.
I think it's probably not too bad an outcome given some of the challenges with, one, rare earth pricing and the like. You know, it's very difficult for some investors to square away the financing requirement to get these projects done. I think we're in a position to capitalize on strong government support, strategic support in order to square away the investment, certainly for the Belfast facility and potentially even faster for something else in the U.S. Let's just wait and see how those discussions progress.
Thanks, Tim. Probably as best answer as you can give. Six months delay is not bad when you look at some other projects around the place. Going back to the U.S., how are you seeing opportunities in that market? There's a lot of focus now. Critical minerals, rare earths now are front page news. Fund managers and investors in the U.S. who have never seen a mine all of a sudden want to understand this market. How are the opportunities there for you?
Yeah, look, I think, Peter, the U.S. is looking extremely attractive. You know, if you look at the valuations in the U.S. market, for companies in the space that are nowhere near as advanced as we are, you know, they're trading on multiples. You know, they're multiples of our potential market cap, but have got nowhere near the technology capability or the definition of certainly the quality of the product or the economics and viability of the business. You know, we are trading at a considerable discount to the potential value that we would achieve in a Northern Hemisphere market. There's no doubt about that. If you think about where the market cap is trading at the moment, you know, call it AUD 60 million-AUD 65 million.
You know, argument's sake, let's call that sort of $50 million. It's about 0.5 EBITDA on one year of operation for Belfast. When you think about there's the potential for the company to have multiple Belfasts in operation over the course of the coming years, yes, it's incredibly cheap relative to where we are. You know, potentially I think that could be the perceived financing risk. For Belfast, financing risk for Makuutu. The company is working through those different scenarios now and hopefully can provide some color to the market shortly. You know, hopefully we will start to see some real valuation starting to be attributed to the company given the sheer amount of work that we've done.
You know, I mean, we're a fundamentally stronger business and company and technology than we were, you know, two years ago, yet our market cap is half of what it was. I think, you know, it's, you know, hopefully we're able to capitalize on some extremely positive news in a very short space of time.
Thanks, Tim. We'll keep an eye out for that. The joint venture in Brazil, which is Viridion, you talked about it through the presentation. Can you summarize how you see the progress on that opportunity?
Yeah. Look, I think with our opportunity in Brazil, you know, we're extremely excited by and extremely excited by the footprint that's emerging in that market. There's some really good projects. I mean, some projects are significantly better than others. The market will work that out in due course. I think access to the basket out of the Colossus Project for the Viridion JV is a real advantage.
Given the support of the Brazilian government, you know, it's the landscape that's emerging there, you know, the cost base, the access to the molecules, the support of government, the potential for further value addition and the close proximity to both the U.S. and European market, I really do think Brazil long term has got a very strategic role to play in a range of different critical minerals. Probably one of the most important for certainly for Ionic is rare earths. For the company to be able to establish a foothold like that, and via the Viridion JV, you know, being held in such high regard within the Brazilian government, and the Brazilian landscape, I think we're really in a very, very strong position to capitalize initially on the recycling aspect.
Given the strong appetite in Brazil and the government policy around circular economy and making sure that the OEMs have recycling as part of the strategy and stewardship of the products that they make from the outset. Being able to lead with recycling, being able to bring refining, being able to be part of potentially for further value addition in Brazil is something with a lot of potential upside for the company.
It certainly is very close to the U.S. where the action is, Tim, that they'll be running those sort of projects under the microscope I'm sure. Makuutu, it's probably becoming a more attractive asset every month that passes. Based on the recent transaction for Serra Verde in Brazil, do you see renewed interest in that? Also somebody else asked a question about your option to go to 60%. Does that loom as a hurdle? Can you talk about that?
Yeah. Look, you know, controlling 60% or 94% of Makuutu is not really an issue because we've got very, very good alignment with our partners in Rwenzori. I think from where the company is and the potential future direction of travel for the business, you know, we are seeing the technology and the appetite on the technology and processing piece move at a much faster rate than the appetite on primary supply.
You know, the potential to sort of look at how we simplify the business to be able to bring in much stronger investment from generalist investors focusing on and wanting to get exposure to rare earths, but not being able to play, you know, primary investment or, you know, mine supply, means that there is a real opportunity for the company to think about how we position the business and how do we position Makuutu within Ionic going forward. Yes, the company is evaluating different things right now. Makuutu has got strategic value. It's always had strategic value, and as we get closer and closer to that September or October date later this year, its value will continue to increase.
However, the company also needs to make sure that we're able to process and progress the project and make sure we have the resources and bandwidth to do so. I think that's where, you know, we've got to evaluate how the business best positions Makuutu. You know, we're looking at a number of things now. Hopefully we can provide some color on that to shareholders in, you know, in coming months.
Tim, there's a lot to digest in this presentation. A lot of opportunity, so many moving parts. It'll be an interesting year for you. What can investors look forward to as in key milestones over the rest of 2026? Let's narrow them down to three top ones if you like.
Look, okay, I think the big one here is, one, clarity on financing Belfast. I think that's on paper, certainly Belfast is the most advanced project in the company's portfolio. It's got incredibly strong appetite from Western governments. It's got strong appetite from the customer base. Financing Belfast over coming months to be in a position where we can move forward before the end of the year is key. Two, I'd say the looming expansion into the U.S. market is one that certainly has got the company extremely excited. I was in D.C. two weeks ago and Brett Lynch, our chairman, is still there.
You know, we've got a number of opportunities we're evaluating in that market and progressing and hopefully, you know, again, soon we're able to talk about some of those relationships and opportunities that are moving now very, very quickly. Finally, I think, you know, over coming months, you know, clarity on the Makuutu asset and where we see that and how we can look to realize the value of Makuutu strategically in an increasingly fragile geopolitical climate, specifically on heavy rare earths. I think, you know, we should have some really positive news across those sort of three areas over, you know, the next three to six months.
Thanks, Tim. I am looking forward to seeing that facility there on the screen in materialized in real life very soon. I'm sure you are too.
Very much so. Thank you, Peter.
All right. Thanks to our audience for joining us. Thanks, Tim, for your presentation. This has been recorded, so it will be sent out via the mailout distribution. If you have any further questions for Tim, please email them in to peter@nwrcommunications.com.au. I'll see that Tim gets them. He's good at answering them. Thanks for joining us today.