$Fortress Value(FVAC)$ VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Defense Metals Corp. ("Defense Metals") (TSXV: DEFN) (OTCQB: DFMTF) (FSE:35D) is pleased to announce that on Friday November 13, 2020, Fortress Value Acquisition Corp. ("FVAC") held a special meeting to consider the previously announced business combination with MP Materials ("MP Materials"). MP Materials is the owner and operator of Mountain Pass, the only rare earth element mining and processing site of scale in North America1. 

The FVAC-MP Materials special meeting represents a significant milestone in the establishment of a North American critical magnet metals supply chain. If approved, the combined company created by the FVAC-MP Materials merger would have an estimated post-transaction equity value of approximately $1.5 billion2. Completion of the FVAC-MP Materials merger would signal a sea-change in ongoing joint Canadian-U.S.A. government efforts towards the establishment of a North American critical metals supply chain. 

Defense Metals anticipates the merger would have a positive impact on the advancement of Canadian critical metals deposits, which includes Defense Metals Wicheeda Rare Earth Element (REE) Property (Table 1). 

The Wicheeda REE 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% LREO3. 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 metals4.

Craig Taylor, CEO of Defense Metals, stated: "The potential completion of the Fortress-MP Materials merger signals the beginning of what Defense Metals believes will be the inevitable establishment of a North American critical metals supply chain. This merger has the potential to unlock significant value in other North American REE deposits like Wicheeda; further buoyed by recent announcements by the state of California, Province of Quebec, China and UK ta