Defense Metals Corp. announced that it has commissioned the Saskatchewan Research Council to complete an X-Ray Transmission sorting amenability study with respect to mineralized feed sourced from its 1,708 hectare (4,220 acre) Wicheeda Rare Earth Element (REE) Property located close to existing infrastructure near Prince George, British Columbia (BC). Defense Metals and SRC have been awarded National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) funding, a Government of Canada funded program mandated to provide financial support for technology innovation. Funding awarded under the NRC IRAP will cover approximately 70% of the estimated cost of the XRT amenability study test-work. The Wicheeda project has indicated mineral resources of 4,890,000 tonnes averaging 3.02% LREO (Light Rare Earth Elements) and inferred mineral resources of 12,100,000 tonnes averaging 2.90% LREO1. Flotation pilot-plant processing of a 26-tonne bulk sample of Wicheeda REE material yielded a mineral concentrate averaging 7.4% NdPr oxide (neodymium-praseodymium) critical magnet metals2. The objective of the SRC amenability study is to investigate XRT sorting for the purpose of upgrading Wicheeda REE mineralization prior to downstream processing. Sensor based sorting has several advantages when applied to REE mining projects in that beneficiation occurs without water and with reduced grinding requirements. The investigation will assess how much gangue can be removed from the head feed. The investigation will then carry out an iterative study of different sorting sizes to process in the XRT sorter assessing both the grade of the upgraded concentrate and the grade of the waste for economic studies whereby the optimum operational parameters can be determined. XRT sorting has the potential to realize several significant project benefits including: Relatively low-cost gangue (unmineralized waste) removal and volume reduction at the front-end of the Wicheeda REE processing stream; Potential to have a significant positive benefit on downstream flotation and hydrometallurgical processes via reduced water, heating, and reagent consumption costs; and Depending on the success of the test-work these reductions may contribute to overall lower size /throughput and capital cost of potential future commercial REE concentration and refining facilities at Wicheeda.