March 7, 2012 (Source: Innovation Metals) -- Innovation Metals Corp. (“IMC”) today announced the formal engagement of GENIVAR Inc. (“GENIVAR”) (TSX:GNV), to lead the process of selecting an appropriate location within Eastern Canada, for the siting of the world’s first independent, centralized heavy-rare-earth element (HREE) separation facility.

Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, GENIVAR is one of the largest professional-services firms in Canada, with extensive experience in managing the site-selection process for a variety of companies and industries as well as all other aspects of large-scale project management.

“We are very pleased to engage GENIVAR for our site-selection process,” said Patrick Wong, CEO of IMC. “The responsiveness that we have received from the GENIVAR team, and their enthusiasm for the project, has been outstanding.”

“The provinces of Ontario and Quebec were obvious first-tier jurisdictions for us to consider, as we started the site-selection process,” said Gareth Hatch, President of IMC. “We wanted to work with an engineering firm that understood the region, and the opportunities and challenges associated with it. GENIVAR quickly demonstrated its expertise in this regard.”

In recent months IMC has also been in active discussions with provincial government entities such as Investissement Québec and Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, to further advance the project with regard to the site-selection and environmental-permitting processes.

“We are pleased to be working hand-in-hand with IMC,” commented André-Martin Bouchard, Vice-President, Environment of GENIVAR. “Our objective will be to identify possible sites that meet the plant’s requirements. We hope that this will be the first step in a long-term partnership that will bring this unique plant into production.”

“Rare-earth producers will benefit from using a centralized HREE separation facility, by reducing their capital-expenditure requirements through participation in a low-cost tolling program, which will separate their concentrates into individual marketable products,” added Mr. Wong. “End-use consumers of rare earths will have the opportunity to own production capacity for only the specific rare-earth products that they need.”

“Given the geopolitical volatility and uncertainty in many regions of the world,” Dr. Hatch added, “locating our HREE separation facility in North America makes strategic as well as business sense. IMC also plans to reserve a portion of our future production capacity to assist governments with stockpile programs.”

Progress in the site-selection process follows the results of a study completed in late 2011, which successfully demonstrated that high recovery rates of individual rare-earth oxides could be achieved through the processing of blended mixed concentrates derived from multiple feedstocks.

“We look forward to formally inviting a handful of prospective rare-earth mining companies to join our Consortium within the next few months,” said Mr. Wong. “Initial discussions with potential candidates have been very encouraging, and there is significant interest in our centralized processing concept.”

IMC is in the process of conducting a small capital raise via a second Seed Round.

About Innovation Metals Corp.
Innovation Metals Corp. (“IMC”) is a private Canadian-based company, founded in 2011 to provide downstream processing and marketing services to the rare-earth sector. IMC’s goal is to alleviate the bottleneck that has formed in the rare-earth supply chain, through the creation of the world’s first independent, centralized rare-earth separation facilities. The company intends to bridge the gap between producers and end users via the creation of a Consortium, through which it will provide low-cost material tolling programs to producers, and assuring security of supply for end users. IMC is also developing innovative trading platforms, to further increase the opportunities within the rare-earth sector for traders.

About GENIVAR Inc.
GENIVAR Inc. (“GENIVAR”) is a leading Canadian engineering company providing private- and public-sector clients with a full range of professional consulting services throughout all project phases, including planning, design, construction and maintenance. Ranging significantly in size, GENIVAR’s clients operate in various different market segments, including the building, industrial, energy, municipal infrastructure, transportation and environmental sectors. GENIVAR is one of the largest engineering companies in Canada by number of employees, with more than 5,000 managers, professionals, technicians, technologists and support staff in over 100 cities in Canada and