America’s Leading Manufacturer of Rare Earth and Advanced Material Products

        U.S. SALES & ADMINISTRATION: SUITE 2000 1093 BROXTON AVE. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA  90024

March 1, 2006

PRESS RELEASE

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AMERICAN ELEMENTS ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF NEW RUTHENIUM TARGET
FOR PERPENDICULAR MEMORY RECORDING (PMR)

[ March 1 , 2006, Los Angeles , CA ] American Elements announced today the launch of a new industrial scale production line dedicated to producing vacuum melted high purity ruthenium sputtering targets for use in the production of perpendicular memory recording hard drives.

Perpendicular recording is a next generation hard drive technology that stands data bits on end on the disc platter, rather than flat to the surface as with existing longitudinal hard drive recording, to achieve new levels of data density and storage capacity. Standing bits on end also improves the reliability of read-write performance in demanding environments.

For example, the new facilities produce a 99.99% ruthenium target with superior performance.

For further technical and pricing information on American Elements’ full line of advanced ceramic, electronic, glass and structural advanced materials products, 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 . American Elements is America’s leading manufacturer and supplier of rare earth and other advanced material products with distribution offices in Europe, Asia and South America.