/EINPresswire.com/ -- HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA--(Marketwired - Aug 21, 2017) - Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSX VENTURE:UCU)(OTCQX:UURAF) ("Ucore" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Dean Popps, currently serving as Senior Counsel to FH+H Law Firm of McLean, Virginia (www.fhhfirm.com) and as a board and advisory member and consultant of several defense industry companies, has accepted an appointment to the Ucore Advisory Board.

Previously, Popps had served as the US Army's top procurement official as the Service Acquisition Executive (SAE) and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (Acting). An appointee of President George W. Bush, Popps held over in the incoming Obama Administration at the request of then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. He left government service in 2010 and lives in the Washington, DC area.

"Front-line access to end users of our products is an essential concern as we transition to production," said Jim McKenzie, President and CEO of Ucore. "In turn, a ready domestic supply of strategic metals is increasingly being recognized as a critical component of American defense systems and national security. Dean brings prodigious experience, business and government acumen to Ucore. With the enormous purchasing power represented by the US military-industrial complex, we look forward to implementing Dean's insights into major customer development, supply chain architecture, strategic product-positioning and public awareness."

"As a US-based enterprise developing Molecular Recognition Technology with uniquely American roots, IBC is pleased to welcome a leader such as Dean to our mutual advisory resource and development team," said Steven Izatt, President and CEO of IBC Advanced Technologies. "Dean's extensive experience in planning, procurement and distribution of strategic materials to government and industry fits exceptionally well with our positioning as a preferred domestic supplier of metals critically important to the competitive future of the US. We welcome his vision and insight."

Popps is currently a board or advisory member of Eutelsat America Corporation (www.eutelsatamerica.com), Millennium Corporation (www.millgroupinc.com), the Strategic Materials Advisory Council (www.strategicmaterials.org), and has previously concluded successful director's positions with IAP World Services (www.iapws.com), Global Integrated Security Services United States (www.globalgroup.com), and Hunter Defense Technologies (www.hdtglobal.com).

Since leaving government service, he has concluded successful consulting engagements with Trident Systems (www.tridsys.com), Software AG (www.softwareaggov.com), Adcor Industries (www.adcorindustries.com), and others.

Popps was also a successful CEO and COO from 1979 to 1999 building and operating satellite teleports in Wash, DC, and Dallas, the latter in a 15-year collaboration with the Trammell Crow family office of Dallas (http://www.trammellcrow.com) and their national real estate interests.

Ucore Advisory Board

Mr. Popps joins a diverse and accomplish group as a member and Chair of the Ucore Advisory Board, including IBC Advanced Technologies CEO Steven Izatt, IBC Founder and supramolecular technology pioneer Dr. Reed Izatt, Nobel Laureate Dr. Jean-Marie Lehne, Alaskan industrialist Randy Johnson, international business financier Frank Hogel, and business consultant Jos De Smedt. (http://ucore.com/corporate/management-board)

Option Advisory

Subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company advises that an aggregate of 8.45M options have been granted to Advisory Board personnel, as well as directors, officers, employees and consultants, exercisable at a price of $0.265 per share, to vest at a rate of one third every six months for a total 18 month vesting period and expiring five years from the date of grant.

About IBC

IBC Advanced Technologies, Inc. is an award-winning, green chemistry selective separations company based on innovative Molecular Recognition Technology (MRT) products. IBC is headquartered in American Fork, Utah, with manufacturing facilities in Utah and Houston, Texas. IBC has supplied industrial, governmental and academic customers worldwide with environmentally friendly products, processes and services for over 29 years. IBC specializes in MRT, utilizing green chemistry to achieve highly selective separations of individual metal ions in complex matrices.

Based on Nobel Prize-winning technology (1987), IBC's proprietary products and processes are used worldwide by premier metals refining and mining companies such as Tanaka Kikinzoku K.K. (Japan), Asarco Grupo Mexico (USA), Impala Platinum Ltd. (South Africa), and Sino Platinum (China). In 2014, the Japanese Government (Mitsubishi Research, Inc.) awarded to IBC a highly competitive subsidy grant, "Demonstration Project for Seawater Purification Technologies", concerning the selective separation of the radionuclides strontium and cesium from contaminated seawater at Fukushima, Japan.

IBC's expertise is illustrated by its extensive development and commercialization of separations systems for platinum group metals (PGM's) at a world level. PGM's are analogous to REE, in that they are considered difficult to selectively separate due to their

constituent chemical similarities. The Ucore-IBC alliance builds on IBC's proven capabilities to develop, scale-up and commercialize selective separations systems for a number of diverse and complex applications. (www.ibcmrt.com)

About Ucore

Ucore Rare Metals is a development-phase company focused on rare metals resources, extraction and beneficiation technologies with near term potential for production, growth and scalability. On March 3, 2015, Ucore announced the development of a joint venture with IBC for the deployment of SuperLig® Molecular Recognition Technology for REE and multi- metallic tailings processing applications in North America and associated world markets. The Company has a 100% ownership stake in the Bokan project. On March 31, 2014, Ucore announced the unanimous support of the Alaska State Legislature for the investment of up to USD $145 Million in the Bokan project at the discretion of the Alaska Import Development and Export Agency ("AIDEA").

Cautionary Notes

This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address future exploration drilling, exploration activities, research and development timelines, and events or developments that the Company expects, are forward looking statements. Forward looking statements in this press release include that we may enter into a long-term supply partnership and offtake relationship and the possibility of an independent North American REE supply chain. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include exploitation and exploration successes or setbacks, research and develop successes or setbacks, continued availability of financing, that we may not be able to reach agreements, that the product may not be suitable for intended uses, and general economic, market or business conditions.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined by the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.