Three of Neo's Five Flagship Rare Earth
Facilities Have Now Earned Medals from EcoVadis for Their
Sustainability Programs
TORONTO, March 28,
2022 /CNW/ - Neo Performance Materials Inc.
("Neo", the "Company") (TSX:NEO) is pleased to
announce that its European rare earth and rare metal processing
facility in Estonia – the only
operating commercial rare earth separations and rare metal
processing plant in the European Union – has been awarded a Gold
Medal by EcoVadis for its 2021 sustainability programs. This
places Neo's Silmet facility in Sillamäe, Estonia in the top five percent of all
facilities around the world reporting to EcoVadis for its
sustainability programs in 2022.
The Silmet facility processes mixed rare earth feedstock into a
variety of high-purity rare earth specialty materials, including
neodymium-praseodymium ("NdPr") oxide, which is used by Neo's
Magnequench business unit to produce neodymium-iron-boron ("NdFeB")
magnetic materials and magnets for automotive, factory automation,
home appliance, circulation pump, and other applications.
It also produces environmental vehicle catalyst materials, which
help reduce harmful emissions from cars and trucks, as well as
high-purity niobium and tantalum metals. The plant operates
under several ISO certifications, including ISO-9001, ISO-14001,
and ISO-45001.
"I am very pleased and proud of our entire Estonian team for
achieving a Gold Medal from EcoVadis for its 2021 sustainability
performance and for doing so well in our first year of independent
EcoVadis review," said Jeff Hogan,
Neo's Executive Vice President and head of the company's Chemicals
and Oxides unit. "This recognition by EcoVadis helps to
illustrate to our customers and stakeholders that Neo takes
sustainability and environmental protection very seriously."
"Our team has been working very hard to meet the high standards
for sustainability programs set by EcoVadis, and this award
recognizes their successful efforts," added Raivo Vasnu, Silmet's
Managing Director. "We look forward to continuing to improve
further on our sustainability performance."
Neo currently is examining plans to expand the Silmet plant's
rare earth processing capacity, as well as to potentially establish
sintered NdFeB magnet manufacturing in Estonia. Sintered
NdFeB magnets are the world's strongest permanent magnets and are
crucial components to an increasing number of electric vehicle
models, advanced wind turbines, and other technologies.
All of Neo's Primary Rare Earth
Facilities Now Operating in the EcoVadis System
This award marks the third Neo rare earth facility to have
achieved top marks for sustainability efforts from EcoVadis this
year. Neo Magnequench facilities in Korat, Thailand and in Tianjin, China earned Gold and Silver Medals,
respectively, earlier this year. Those announcements can be seen
here.
All five of Neo's flagship rare earth facilities, representing
approximately 90% of revenue generated by the Company, are now
operating in the EcoVadis tracking and reporting system.
Leadership in global sustainability has been a key pillar of Neo's
long-term growth strategy. Neo expects to issue its first
formal sustainability report in the second quarter of 2022.
In addition to its work with EcoVadis, Neo is a participant in
the United Nations Global Compact, the world's largest
corporate sustainability initiative, and has committed to
implementing the Global Compact's 10 Principles on human rights,
labour, environment, and anti-corruption. The Company also is
a member of the Responsible Minerals Initiative, which provides
companies with tools and resources to make sourcing decisions that
improve regulatory compliance and support responsible sourcing of
minerals from conflict-affected and high-risk areas.
"Health, safety, and environmental performance have been at the
core of Neo's culture over our three decades of operating in the
rare earth processing industry," said Constantine Karayannopoulos, Neo's CEO.
"Long before sustainability and ESG emerged as formal concepts in
the manufacturing community, Neo was leading our industry with
sustainability innovations, such as recycling magnetic rare earth
materials and rare metals, and processing end-of-life and
post-industrial scrap materials into specialty metals such as
indium, hafnium, rhenium, and gallium. Neo's business model
has long emphasized operating under circular economic models as
much as possible, as this makes good sense from both an
environmental and a business perspective."
About Neo Performance
Materials
Neo manufactures the building blocks of many modern technologies
that enhance efficiency and sustainability. Neo's advanced
industrial materials - magnetic powders and magnets, specialty
chemicals, metals, and alloys - are critical to the performance of
many everyday products and emerging technologies. Neo's products
help to deliver the technologies of tomorrow to consumers
today. The business of Neo is organized along three segments:
Magnequench, Chemicals & Oxides and Rare Metals. Neo is
headquartered in Toronto, Ontario,
Canada; with corporate offices in Greenwood Village, Colorado, US; Singapore; and Beijing, China. Neo operates globally with
sales, research and development, and production across 10
countries, being Japan,
China, Thailand, Estonia, Singapore, Germany, United
Kingdom, Canada,
United States, and South Korea. For more information, please
visit www.neomaterials.com.
About EcoVadis
One of the world's largest providers of business sustainability
ratings, EcoVadis evaluates a company's sustainability management
and progress. Its methodology is built on international
sustainability standards, including the Global Reporting
Initiative, the United Nations Global Compact, and the ISO 26000,
covering 200+ spend categories and 160+ countries. Sustainability
ratings illustrate performance across 21 indicators in four main
categories: Environment, Labor & Human Rights, Ethics, and
Sustainable Procurement.
Cautionary Statements Regarding
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking information" within
the meaning of applicable securities laws in Canada. Forward-looking information may relate
to future events or future performance of Neo. All statements in
this release, other than statements of historical facts, with
respect to Neo's objectives and goals, as well as statements with
respect to its beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations,
anticipations, estimates, and intentions, are forward-looking
information. Specific forward-looking statements in this discussion
include, but are not limited to, the following: expectations
regarding Neo's sustainability programs, its plans to further
improve its sustainability performance, and potential plans to
expand operations in Europe. Often, but not always,
forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words
such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled",
"estimates", "continues", "forecasts", "projects", "predicts",
"intends", "anticipates" or "believes", or variations of, or the
negatives of, such words and phrases, or state that certain
actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should",
"might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. This information
involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from
those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Neo believes
the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are
reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations
will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information
included in this discussion and analysis should not be unduly
relied upon. For more information on Neo, investors should review
Neo's continuous disclosure filings that are available under Neo's
profile at www.sedar.com.
SOURCE Neo Performance Materials, Inc.