Breaking the Rare-Earth Monopoly

7/27/2019 Breaking the Rare-Earth Monopoly

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RARE EARTH METALS

Breaking the Rare-Earth Monopolyl\ l o o k a t th e r a r e - e a r t h s in d u s t ry , a n d c u r r e n t d e v e l o p m e n ts a im e d a t r e d u c i n gd e p e n d e n c e o n C h in e s e e x p o r tsBy Simon Walker, European Editor

As the residents of any town where amajor supermarket has killed off all of thesmall independent stores will confirm,there can be significant disadvantages inhaving to rely on a single supplier. Evenworse, should that supplier later decide toclose its doors and move elsewhere, thecitizens are up the proverbial creek, withno alternative source for their day-to-dayneeds.

This scenario provides a close analogywith the rare-earths market. Having effec-tively run competitive producers off theblock 10 years or so ago, China has estab -lished a level of domination in rare-earthsproduction that is unsurpassed in other

mineral commodities. Consumers in theU.S., Japan, Europe and elsewhere havebecome wholly dependent on imports fromChina, a position T h e New York Times high-l ighted in an article in September 2009.

According to the U.S.-based analyst,John Kaiser, the trigger for the suddenmedia awakening to this situation arose theprevious month with the publication by theChinese Ministry of Industry and Informa-tion Technology of a draft report on thecountry's policy for its rare earths industryup to 20 15 . The inclusion of plans to tight-en controls on the supply of rare-earthoxides and downstream products fromChina, and possibility of an export ban on

specific rare-earth metals, provoked indus-try-wide jitters over the security of supply.

With China later apparently confirmingcuts in export quotas, the situation wasexacerbated in October this year by thediplomatic spat between China and Japanover the sovereignty of certain islands thatlie between the two countries, withChinese exporters withholding supplies ofspecific rare earths. Cerium, a key ingredi-ent in abrasives used in the production ofpolished glass components for flat-paneltelevisions and hard-disc drives, was one ofthe metals affected.

Chinese officials attempted to assuageU.S. and Japanese fears over its rare-earth

A u a lo n R a r e M e t a l s ' N e c h a l a c h o p r o j e c t n e a r T h o r L a k e, N o r t h w e s t T e r r i to r i e s , C a n a d a , i s e m e r g i n g a s o n e o f th e l a r g e s t u n d e v e l o p e d r a r e c e s i n t h e w o r l d . T heO n t a r io - b a s e d c o m p a n y ' s p r e f e a s i b i l it y s t u d y , c o m p l e t e d e a r li e r t h i s y e ar , e s t i m a t e d it w o u l d r e q u i r e a n i n v e s t m e n t of r o u g h l y C $ 9 0 0 n i i i i i o n to s t a r t u p a 1 0 . 0 0 0 - m t /


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RARE EARTH METALSexport plans at the ASEAN summit in lateOctober, with the country's ForeignMiniste r Yang Jiechi as suring U.S.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton China"will not use rare earths as a diplomatic,political or economic tool in dealing withother countr ies." Nonetheless, whi leaccepting this statement, Clinton pointedout the Chinese export restrictions are "awake-up cal l " tor the world to seek addi-tional sources of rare earths.

So, how did the world's rare-earth usersget into this situation in the first place, andwhat IS being done to develop alternativesources of supply now that China seemsalmost certain to cut back on its exports?Not, the Chinese say, from the perspectiveof wishing to exercise an increasing level ofcontrol but because of the burgeoningdemands from their own dom estic industry.China's Rise to DominanceFrom initial interest m rare earths tor limit-ed military purposes, the market expandedslowly during the third quarter of the 20*^'century. By 1987, major users included theglass and ceramics industries, the produc-tion of catalysts for oil refining, and in met-

allurgy as alloying materials. At that time,less than 5% was being used in electronicsand the production of high-intensity mag-nets. Twenty years on, and the picture ismarkedly different, according to the U.S.Geological Survey; while metallurgicalapplications and alloys still take up nearlyone-third of demand, rare-earths usage inelectronics has risen to a similar proportion.

On the face of it, national governments inthe market-economy countries seem to havebeen remarkably complacent during the1990s and 2000s, as China became in-creasingly dominant w ithin the internationalrare-earths market. Since Chinese producerscould supply what was needed at lower coststhan established producers in the U.S. andelsewhere, they effectively drove their com-petitors out of business. From the world'sleading producer, based on the MountainPass deposit in California, the U.S. joinedthe ranks of those dependent on imports tosatisfy domestic industrial dema nd.

China has two principal sources of rare-earth metals; by-product output from theBayan Obo iron ore mine in InnerMongolia, and low-grade ion-absorptionclay deposits in the provinces of Jiangxi,

Guangdong, Hunan, Guangxi and Fujian insouthern China. Commercially, the two arecomplementary, since Bayan Obo's outputis principally of 'light' rare earths, while theclays contain a higher proportion ot 'heavy'elements. What the two have in common istheir low cost of production, at least on anhistorical basis, although recent Chineseawakening to environmental issues and thelegacies of past mining practices appear tobe whittling away at that advantage. OtherChinese production comes from deposits inSichuan and Shangdong provinces.

Discovered in 1927, Bayan Obo wasinitially considered to be an iron ore de-posit. However, nine years later its rare-earth potential was recognized, with niobi-um being added to its list of resources inthe iate 1950s. According to Mindat, thedeposit contains 470 million mt of iron-orereserves, plus some 40 million mt of min-eralization grading 3.5 % -4% rare earths, 1mill ion mt of Nb^Os and 130 mill ion mt offluorite. Stratiform and lenticular orebodiesoccur within quartzite, slate, limestone anddolomite host rocks.

Worldwide, the development of newuses for rare-earth metals has traditionally

Rare Earths: Not All That Rare, andThey're Metals, to BootThe term 'rare earths' is invariably described as misleading, since theeiements themselves are neither particularly rare and are all metal-lic. The expression usually covers the 15 elements in the lanthanideseries in the periodic table, plus yttrium and scandium. Aithoughthese are not in the same periodic group, they occur with the lan-thanides in rare-earth deposits, and have comparable properties.

Rare-earth elements are classified as being 'light' or 'heavy',the difference stemming from ionic compaction within the atom.Light rare earths include the lanthanides from lanthanum (ele-ment 57 in the periodic table) up to europium (63), while theheavy rare earths are those from gadolinium (64) to lutetium (71),plus yttrium.

The principal rare-earth ores, the minerals bastnaesite andmonazite, have formed the basis for historical production, withminor contributions from deposits containing xenotime andloparite. A significant proportion of Chinese rare-earth productionis sourced from ion absorption clays, which themselves appear tohave been derived from the deep weathering of source rocks con-taining xenotime.

Untii the discovery ot carbonatite-hosted rare-earth deposits,such as Mountain Pass, all rare-earth production came from mon-azite, with beach-sand operations in India and Brazil the leadingproducers. A phosphate mineral, monazite is known to exist in atleast four forms, depending on whether Ce, La, Nd or Pr is theprincipal rare-earth constituent. Its main drawback is its thoriumcontent, with concerns over the potential radioactivity of tailingshaving effectively rendered it unacceptable as a commercial ore in

Brazil in 2004, according to British Geological Survey data, whileIndian production has tailed off completely. Malaysian monaziteproduction comes as a by-product of alluvial tin mining.

A carbonate-fluoride mineral, bastnaesite also has more thanone composition, with Ce, La or Y forming the main rare-earthcomponent. Typically hosted in carbonatite deposits, this is nowthe main source of world production. It is also present with mon-azite at Bayan Obo in China, although this is not a carbonatite-type deposit. Bastnaesite won from Mountain Pass supplied theU.S. market with rare earths for most of the last 60 years, withsmall-scale production having resumed in 2008 after a six-yearhiatus. Bastnaesite is typically richer in the 'light' rare-earth met-als than is monazite.

Of the other source minerais, xenotime is also a rare-earthphosphate in which yttrium is the major component; a number ofheavy rare earth elements can replace some of the yttrium in theatomic structure, as can thorium and uranium. Virtually the onlysource of xenotime is now as a tin-mining by-product m Malaysia.

Individual rare-earth elements can vary wideiy in their relativenatural abundance, ranging from cerium, the most abundant, toPromethium which, being subject to radioactive decay, is virtuallyunknown in ore deposits. One interesting feature of the lathanidesis that the Oddo-Harkins rule applies to their occurrence in nature,in that the odd-numbered elements occur less extensively than theeven-numbered ones.

In terms of physical properties, there is a general increase inrare-earth metai hardness, density and melting point from ceriumto lutetium. There is also widespread readiness for the metals to


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mirrored their availability, with the U.S.taking the lead in this respect onceMountain Pass came on stream in 1952.Neither was China an exception here, withnational scientific and industrial develop-ment programs that were put in place dur-ing the 198 0s and 1990s including stud-ies on new uses for the country's extensiverare-earth resources.

Thus, not only has China been able tosupply virtually all of the rare-earths need-ed by the rest of the world, but it has alsodeveloped its own technical expertise intheir use. As a result, domestic demandhas surged, not only to supply export-ori-entated industries such as electronics, butalso to satisfy demand from newly emerg-ing technologies such as wind turbines andhybrid cars. With international pressure onChina to reduce its carbon emissions, andrealization gained during preparations forthe 2008 Olympic Games, these havetaken on new importance within thenational economy.Annual Output Trendsand ReservesAccording to statistics gathered by theBritish Geological Survey, worldwide pro-duction of rare earths has been risingsteadily over the past 10 years. The datashown in the table on p. 50 clearly illus-trate China's increasing dominance in theworld market, with a 50% increase in out-put over the period from 1999 to 2008.The BGS notes, however, its data set is notcomplete, and a number of other coun-triesincluding Indonesia, Kazakhstan,North Korea, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan,Mozambique, Nigeria, Russia andVietnamare believed to have limitedrare-earth produc tion.

In a presentation to this year's SMEconference in Phoenix, the USGS's rare-earths expert, James Hedrick, cited a fig-ure of 124,000 mt of contained rare-earthoxide production worldwide in 2008, ofwhich China had a 97% share, India2.2%, Brazil 0.5% and Malaysia 0.3%. Healso presented a graph of productiontrends since the early 1950s, which clear-ly indicates the accelerating trend over thesubsequent period as more uses werefound for rare earths, and demand roseaccordingly.

In terms of world reserves, the USGSreported a total of 99 m illion mt in its mostrecent Mineral Commodity Survey publica-


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RARE EARTH METALSposits in China and the United States holdthe greater proportion of current reserves,while the bulk of the remainder is con-tained in monazite deposits in Australia,Brazil , China, India, Malaysia, SouthAfrica, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the UnitedStates. A breakdown of known reserves isshown below.CountryChinaCISUSAAustraliaIndiaBrazilMalaysiaOther countriesWorld total (rounded).


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RARE EARTH METALS

put of around 55,000 mt this year some-what greater than the tonnage it is beingallowed to export, the surplus could wellend up there, with the company havingconfirmed it had been given permission tobuild a 200,000-mt-capacity storage facil-ity at Baotou.

On thedemand side, rare earths can befound in high-tech applications across theboard, as well as in more humble usessuch as the f l ints in disposable cigarettelighters. A list of the rare earths and theircharacteristics and occurrence can befound in the sidebar article on p. 47.

To cite some examples, yttrium, ter-bium and europium oxides are used in thered, blue and green phosphor coatings forLCD and plasma TV screens, and comput-er monitors. They also find uses in low-energy light bulbs. Wind turbine generatorsneed neodymium and other rare-earthmagnets, while neo-magnets also help tocut the weight of vehicles, so making themmore energy-efficient. Other everydayapplications include mobile phones and

World Production of Rare Earth Metals, 1999-2008C o u n t r yU S A ( 1 ) ( * )B r a z i lC h i n a (1)IndiaMalaysia

19995,000731

80,5001,6981,147

20005,000958

75,5001,890818

20015,000958

80,6002,651643

20025,0001,173

88,0002,856441

2003

l,200r)92,0002,891795

2004

98,300149

1,683

2005

119,00093

320

2006

133,00045

1,110

2007

120,000

682N o t e s : (I) W i t h t i ie e x c e p t i o n o f d a t a f o r t h e U S A a n d C i i in a . l ig u r e s r e f e r t o g r o s s t o n n a g e o f c o n c e n t r a t e s . F o r t t i e U S A a n d C h i n a .t h e f i g u r e s s h o w t h e r a r e - e a r t h o x i d e c o n t e n t , w h i c h i s a s s u m e d t o b e 6 0 % o f tt ie g r o s s t o n n a g e o f c o n c e n t r a te s p r o d u c e d , i'l E s t im aS o u r c e : B G S W o r i d M i n e r a l P r o d u c t i o n S t a t i s t i c s

computer hard drives, while the defenseindustry uses rare earths for things asdiverse as jet engines, radar, night-visionsystems and missile guidance, as well asmore general electronics.

In a presentation made to the RareMe ta ls Summi t III in October, theAustralian producer Lynas Corp. gave anoverview of current an d projected demandtrends for rare earths. The principal end-uses at th e moment include magnets ( 2 6 %of total demand or some 35 ,000 mfy ofrare earths), the company said, catalystsfor hydrocarbon cracking (21,300 mt) , po l -

ishing powders (19,100 mt) and battera l loys (18 ,600 mt). Other end-useencompass metallurgical alloys, glass additives, auto catalysts an d phosphors.

By 2 0 1 4 , according to Lynas's estimations, total demand will have grown from1 3 6 , 1 0 0 mt to 1 9 0 , 1 0 0 mt, with themain growth drivers being battery alloyand magnets, and rare-earth use in polishing powders also increasing strongly. Infact , the only area of use predicted not see an y growth is in th e most traditional orare-earth applications: as a colorant inglass-making.

Applications for rare-earth products encompass a wide range of technological sectors. Clocl(wise from left; military uses extend beyond phospiiors for monitor screens; mob


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RARE EARTH METALS

Cons t ruc t i on work in progress on the f l o ta t i on c i rcu i t bu i l d ing a t Lynas Corp, 's Mount Weld rare earths project in A u s t r a l i a ,United States IndustryDevelopments.. .Th e th r e a t s r e a l o r p e r c e i v e d f r o mC h i n a a b o u t f u t u r e r a r e - e a r t h s u p p l i e s h a v ec e r t a i n l y s p u r r e d i n t e r e s t a c r o s s t h e g l o b ei n d e v e l o p i n g a l t e r n a t i v e s o u r c e s . I n t h eU n i te d S ta t e s , M o l y c o rp M i n e r a ls h a s b e e n

w o r k in g t o w a r d r e o p e n in g M o u n t a in P as si n C a l i f o r n i a , w h i l e a m o r e r e c e n t a r r i v a l .W i n g s I ro n O r e , re c e n t l y f i n a l i ze d a n a g r e e -m e n t w i t h G l e n c o r e o ve r r e o p e n i n g t h e Pe aR id g e m i n e i n M i s s o u r i . In C a n a d a , A va l o nRa r e M e t a l s i s e v a l u a t i n g i ts N e c h a l a c h op r o s p e c t . G re a t W e s t e r n M i n e r a l s h a s i t s

S t e e n k a m p s k r a a l p r o j e c t i n S o u t h A f r i c a ,w h i l e i n A u s t r a l i a , L y n a s C o r p . is p r e s s i n ga h e a d a t M o u n t W e ld w h i l e A r a f u r aR e s o u rc e s i s w o r k i n g a t i t s N o la n s t e n e -m e n t . A n a l y s t J o h n K a i s e r p o i n t s o u t t h a to t h e r ju n i o r s i n vo l ve d in t h e h u n t i n c l u d eA l k a n e R e s o u r c e s . G r e e n l a n d M i n e r a l s &

M ineARC's HRM Ref uge (Hard Rock M i ne)is t h e o n l y p o r t a b l e r e f u g e c h a m b e r t o h a v eb e e n s u c c e s s f u ll y u s e d in mul t ip le rea l l i fee m e r g e n c i e s .W i th r e m o t e m o n i to r i n g c a p a b i li ti e s , i n c l u d i n grea l - t i m e v i deo , t he HRM pro t ec t s m i ners f rome x p l o s i o n s , fi r e , s mo k e , a n d r o c k b u r s t s ine x c e s s o f 3 6 h o u r s .V is i t o u r w e b s i te fo r d e t a i l s :www.minearc.com.au/priorjty

The wor ld 's lead ing manufac turer o femergency l i f e sav ing re fuge mineARCS Y S T E M S


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RARE EARTH METALSEnergy, Hudson Resources, MatamecExplorations, Quest Rare Minerais, RareEarth Metis, Rare Eiement Resources,Stans Energy Corp., Tasman Metals andUcore Rare Metals, all of which are listedin stock exchanges in Canada or Australia.

From the U.S. perspective, the re-opening of Mountain Pass would be amajor landmark in terms of resuming alevel of self-sufficiency in national rare-earths requirements. Opened in 1952 bythe Molybdenum Corp. of America, by themid-1960s the operation had an annualcapacity of 10,900 mt of rare-earth con-centrates. The renamed Molycorp was sub-sequently bought out by the oil company,Unocal, which in turn merged with Chevronin 2005. In 1998, however, operations atthe processing facility were curtailed as aresult of environmental concerns over tho-rium and radium emissions from plantwastewater, with mining ending in 2002.

The current owner, Molycorp Miner-als, bought the operation and its facilitiesfrom Chevron in 2008, since when it hasbeen running pilot plant-scale operationson stockpiled feed material. In July of thisyear, the company raised $379 million inan IPO, with the proceeds being usedtoward the estimated $511 mill ion cost ofrenovating the existing faciIities and resum-ing mining in 2012. Its stated aim, underits 'mine-to-magnets' strategy, is to becomeone of the world's most highly integratedproducers of rare-earth products, includingoxides, metals, alloys and magnets.

Molycorp Minerals is projecting an out-put of 19,050 mt/y of rare-earth oxidesonce Mountain Pass is back to full produc-t ion. In the meantime, it has entered into anumber of agreements with other compa-nies over the development ot future down-stream activities, including the productionof high-strength neodymium-iron-boronmagnets. Current revenue is b eing generat-ed through the sale of lanthanum concen-trates to consumers in the catalyst industry.

In its IPO prospectus, the companycited proven reserves of some 40,000 mtof rare-earth oxides at an average grade of9.38%, plus 962,000 mt of oxides inprobable reserves at a grade of 8.2%. This,it said, would give a mine life of over 30years, with the possibility of increasing out-put to 40,000 mt/y if the market exists.

In Missouri , meanwhile, privatelyowned Wings Iron Ore acquired the PeaRidge property in 2001. Originally ownedby Bethlehem Steel and St Joe throughMeramec Mining Co., Pea Ridge producedover 27 mt of iron ore products between1964 and its closure in 2001. Its acquisi-tion by Upiand Wings led to a small-scaleresumption of production in 2006, basedon a tailings-retreatment operation.

Wings has budgeted US$390 mill ion inpre-production costs to bring the mineback into operation at a rate of 3.6 millionmt/y of iron-ore products, based on a 136-million-mt magnetite resource. However,the Pea Ridge orebody also contains rare-earths, both in apatite (phosphate rock)

Selected Junior Companies and Their ProjectsAlkane ResourcesArafura ResourcesGreenland Minerals & EnergyH u d s o n R e s o u r c e s

Matamec ExplorationsQuest Rare MineralsRare Earth MetalsRare Element ResourcesStans Energy Corp.Tasman Metals

Dubbo, NSW, Australia; zirconium, hafnium, niobium,tantalum, yttrium and rare earthsNolans Bore, NT, Australia; rare earths, phosphate,uranium, thoriumKvanefjeid, southern Greenland; rare earths,uranium-zincSarfartoq carbonatite complex, western Greenland;rare earthsZeus, Qubec, Canada; rare earths, yttrium andzirconiumStrange Lake and Misery lake, Qubec/Labrador, Canada;rare earthsClay-Howells, Ontario, Canada; iron ore, niobium,rare earthsBear Lodge, Wyoming, USA; rare earthsKutessay, Kyrgyzstan; heavy rare earthsNorra Karr and Bastns, Sweden; zirconium, gold and

within the main ore and also within separate, high-grade breccia pipes. Old tailingalso contain recoverable rare earths. Moreimportantly, the company states. PeaRidge has a higher proportion of heavy rareearths (samarium, europium, gadoliniumterbium and yttrium) than any of the othemajor rare-earth sources, includinMountain Pass, Bayan Obo and MounWeld in Western Australia.

In October, Wings signed a marketingdeal with G lencore over its future rare-earthoutput. A feasibil ity study is scheduled tobegin by mid-December, with completiondue in the second half of 2011, althoughdevelopment will depend on the partnersbeing able to secure competitive fundingAssuming that this is achieved, a restart tomining is penciled in for 2012 with aramp-up to full production the followinyear, including 42,000 mt/y of apatite and1,900 mt/y ot rare-earth oxides.. . .and OverseasSituated within one of the m ain m ining districts in Western Australia, Lynas Corp.'sMount Weld project is based on a carbonatite-hosted resource that contains niobiumand tantalum as well as rare earths. Thecompany bought the property in 2001 fromAnaconda Nickel (now Minara Resourcesfor A$5 mill ion. Trial mining in 2007 and2008 produced 770,000 mt of ore grading15.4% rare-earth oxides, but constructionat the mine site and at Lynas's advancedminerals plant in Malaysia was suspendedin early 2009 when the company lost itsource of funding. An equity issue inNovember last year raised A$450 millionwhich allowed it to resume work, with concentrator construction scheduled for completion this month. Initial capacity will be33,000 mt/y of concentrate grading 40%rare-earth oxides, which wiil be shipped toMalaysia for further processing into 11,000mt/y of rare-earth oxide products.

The company recently revised itresource estimate for Mount Weld upwardto a total of 17.49 mill ion mt gradin8 .1 % total rare-earth oxides, or 7.9% lanthanides (not including yttrium). It hadivided its resource into two distinct zonesthe 9.88-mill ion-mt Central LanthanideDeposit, which grades 10.7% total rareearths, and the 7.62-m ill ion-m t Duncadeposit which, although it grades 4.8%contains a higher proportion of heavy rareearth metals.


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RARE EARTH METALSearth resource in Malawi. At the t ime, thedeposit represented an inferred resource of107 ,000 mt of rare-earth oxides which,the company noted, could form the basisfor an output of at least 5,000 mt/y of rare-earth oxides for processing at its Malaysianrefinery.

In Canada's Northwest Territories,Avalon Rare Metals is just the latest in asequence of companies that has includedHighwood Resources, Placer Dome, Heciaand Navigator Exploration Corp. to haveworked on evaluating the mineralization atThor Lake. Resources at the focus of cur-rent attention, the Nechalacho zone, nowtotal 14.48million mt indicated at 1.82%total rare-earth oxides plus 175.5 millionmt inferred at 1.43%, the company statedin June.

As well being relatively enriched inheavy rare earths, the Nechalacho depositcontains tantalum, niobium, gallium andzirconium mineralization. A prefeasibilitystudy completed earlier this year indicatedcapex costs of virtually C$900 mill ion foran 18-year underground mining operationwith an output of around 10,000 mt/y ofrare-earth oxides, plus zirconium, niobiumand tantalum. In September, Avalon raisedC$30 mil l ion in ashare sale, and a month

later received a scoping study for a 25 ,000mt/y rare-earth separation plant which, thestudy suggested, would carry a near-C$350 mill ion price tag.

Canadian-domici led company GreatWestern Minerals has a number of rare-earth exploration projects on the go inNorth America, plus an option over therehabilitation of the old Steenkampskraalmine in northwestern Cape Province inSouth Africa. Themine was operated by anAnglo American subsidiary between 1952and 1963 principally as a thorium produc-er, with the current owner. South Africa'sRareco, acquiring it in 1989.

The deposit consists of a tabular mon-azite-rich orebody hosted in pegmatites,with accessory copper, lead, zircon andi lmenite. The monazite contains an aver-age in-situ grade of 17% total rare-earthoxides, making Steenkampskraal highest-grade rare-earth deposit in the world, thecompany claims.

Based on historical data, currentresources total just under 30,000 mt ofrare-earth oxides. The company began afeasibility study on the project in June thisyear, and subsequently raised C$35 mil-lion in a share offering as well as taking a2 1 % stake in Rareco.

Will the Future be Secure?There is no doubt that after a consider-able period of complacency, the WesternWorld has finally woken up to the poten-tial consequences of China no longerbeing able to supply all of its rare-earthrequirements. There has been a markedincrease in explorat ion act ivi ty, withknown prospects being revisited and newones prospected. Not surprisingly, therehas been a fair amount of media hypethat has helped spur wider interest in thetopic on the one hand, and risks creatinga 'rare-earth bubble' on the other.

Some hard facts remain undisputed,however. Hard drives and wind turbineshave a mutual need for high-strengthmagnets, as do the increasing numbersof motors found in modern cars.Automotive technology is also changingfocus, with hybrids increasing their mar-ket share and conventional cars needingmore effective exhaust catalysts. Nickel-metal hydride batteries are f inding moreand more appl icat ions, whi le bet terhydrogen-storage capabi l i t ies wi l l beneeded as alternative energy-carrieroptions become more widely available.All of these uses have one th ing in com-mon; rare earths.

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Breaking the Rare-Earth Monopoly

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