June 2, 2002

PRESS RELEASE

AMERICAN ELEMENTS ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF NEW LINE OF NICKEL CERMETS

[June 2, 2002, Los Angeles , CA] American Elements announced today the launch of and commercial availability of a new product group of nickel cermet structured powders and screen printable inks.

The new line of Cermets is designed to meet the growing needs of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anode developers and researchers. American Elements production capabilities allows it to provide structures with varying levels of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and modified size ranges of YSZ to allow for better developed gas paths. This is of great value to SOFC cathode developers who may require multiple versions of the same basic structure to test the benefits of changes to balances and particle sizes.

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.