May 25, 2004

PRESS RELEASE

AMERICAN ELEMENTS ANNOUNCES NANOFLUOR™ LINE OF NANOSCALE RARE EARTH AND ADVANCED METALLIC FLUORIDE POWDERS

[May 25, 2004, Los Angeles , CA] American Elements announced today the successful development and commercial availability of a new product group of nanoscale metallic fluoride powders. Included in the group are fluorides of the rare earths (lanthanide series) and several other advanced metal fluoride powders with known application value. Marketed under the trade name “NanoFluor™”, the new nanopowders also have ultra high purities up to (6N) 99.9999%. Among the benefits of this application of nanotechnology is the creation of reactive surface area as high as 40 square meters per gram of powder.

The combination of ultra high purity and ultra high surface area makes these new nanomaterials excellent next generation candidates for numerous high technologies, including optical transmission and advanced electronic applications. The new product group includes, among others, nanoscale high purity fluorides of the elements Erbium, Ytterbium, Aluminum and Scandium.

American Elements is a Los Angeles based global manufacturer and developer of engineered and advanced materials with the world’s largest industrial catalogue of rare earth materials accessible electronically at www.americanelements.com. For further information on the new Chinese rare earth tax rates, please contact your local American Elements distributor or American Elements U.S. corporate headquarters at (1)310-208-0551, FAX (1)310-208-0351 or customerservice@americanelements.com.