Following the successful verification of the acid leach recovery process at ANSTO which was announced earlier in the year, a high purity mixed rare earth carbonate has been produced.

The belowing picture is the high purity (99%) mixed rare earth carbonate (56% REO) produced from Ngualla feed mineralisation at ANSTO Minerals.

                 

The carbonate was precipitated directly from the rare earth chloride solution (Figure 1) used as the feed for the SX Pilot Plant which was produced from a bulk sample of Ngualla mineralisation.

Peak said that assay results of this carbonate have now been received and indicate a high purity (>99%) rare earth carbonate with a rare earth content of 56% REO and less than 1% impurity metals present. Most importantly, the radioactive elements, thorium and uranium, are extremely low, being below detection limits.

Peak Resources has achieved a significant milestone on the road to commercialising the wholly-owned Ngualla Rare Earth Project in Tanzania, following the production of two refined rare earth products.

Ngualla is on track to become the next major rare earth supplier with high grade mineralisation and a simple, proven metallurgical process supporting a low cost operation.

These products were produced at ANSTO Minerals (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation), and importantly are in a saleable form and available for evaluation by target customers.

The rare earth products completed to date are:

- An ultra-high purity (99.9%)* mid and heavy rare earth oxide (M+HREO).
- A high purity (>99%) rare earth carbonate with a grade of 56% REO.

                  

The work includes the first of four separated high purity rare earth oxide products from the Solvent Extraction Pilot Plant now in operation at ANSTO.

Peak said that the SX Pilot Plant work is progressing well with three additional separated rare earth oxide samples to be produced over the coming months, including a high purity didymium oxide (a neodymium – praseodymium mix) sample which is expected in June, followed by cerium oxide and finally a lanthanum oxide.

Alastair Hunter, chairman for Peak, commented: “The successful production of these products of such high quality is an achievement very few other companies have made and we are hopeful they will exceed the expectations of any future off take customers.

"This work is well within the required specifications and demonstrates Peak’s commitment to drive the development of the Ngualla Project forward.”

Ngualla is a leading rare earth project with an estimated NPV of US$1.57 billion and pre-tax IRR of 53% for an initial 25 years production and an average grade of 4.35% REO.

Peak continues to fast track the development of Ngualla with the aim of becoming a low cost, long term producer of high purity rare earth oxide products in 2016.


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Yoshio Takahaski, a professor of environmental chemistry at Hiroshima University, said a research team-- which also includes Japan’s Aisin Cosmos R&D Co. Ltd.--has determined that dried salmon milt or sperm is a “low cost and environment-friendly” method to extract rare earth metals.

The announcement of the research team’s findings was made at the Japan Sustainable Mining, Investment and Technology Business Forum in Tokyo and reported by Kyodo News.

The research team, based in Aichi Prefecture, found a 2010 study which determined phosphate groups found on the surface of bacteria can absorb and separate rare earths from the ore 10 times more effectively than the current extraction and separation REE process with extraction resin. The team then decided to explore the possibility of using milt--rich in phosphoric acids, but usually thrown away—for rare earth element extraction.

The team performed an experiment in which salmon milt was dried, powdered and put into a beaker containing a rare earth metals solution. The milt absorbed the rare earth elements as well as bacteria does, particularly the scarce and very expensive elements thulium and lutetium.

Unlike bacteria, milt does not have to be cultivated and is easier to preserve in a powdered state.

The team also believes that by making more use of milt through different chemicals, it can extract various types of rare earths.


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Malawi launched a $20 million project last week to start exploration for rare earth metals and natural gas in the southern part of the country, reports the African Press Agency.

The government expects the project to help the local economy through increased foreign exchange and other revenues.

With the extraction of rare earths and natural gas, the country forecasts its gross domestic product to jump by 10% to 20% by 2015.

An Australian company was granted the exploration licence.


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Cavan Ventures recently increased the number of claims covering its Pythonga Lake rare earth project. The new claims are said to increase the economic potential of the property because of the discovery of several new rare earth element (REE) occurrences during the 2011 and 2012 prospecting programs.

Following these updated results, the company intends to drill to verify the extensions of the best channel samples along strike and at depth. The 2013 drilling program will be focused on three areas of mineralized outcrop.

Search Minerals confirmed the appointment of Stephen Keith as president and CEO of the company, effective immediately. James Clucas, the outgoing president and CEO, has transitioned to executive chairman of the company.

Keith has worked on projects in more than 30 countries, with a focus in Latin America, and was most recently founder, president and CEO of Rio Verde Minerals Development, a company he took from concept to listing on the TSX with over $30 million completed in equity financings. Keith led Rio Verde until its acquisition by B&A Fertilizers in March of this year.

Tasman Metals announced the first NI 43-101 compliant independent resource estimate for its 100-percent-owned Olserum HREE project in Sweden.

Its press release notes that highlights include a 0.4-percent total rare earth oxide (TREO) cut off, an indicated resource of 4.5 million MT at 0.60-percent TREO and an inferred resource of 3.3 million MT at 0.63-percent TREO. It adds that “higher value” HREEs comprise 34 percent of the total REE content at Olserum, with the five critical REEs (dysprosium, terbium, europium, neodymium and yttrium) comprising approximately 40 percent of the REE content.

Along with Norra Karr, Olserum is the second of Tasman’s resource-stage REE projects. Together they make up the only two NI 43-101 compliant REE resources in the European Union.


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Mining Weekly reported that, despite reports of numerous rare earth projects ramping to counter the Chinese global monopoly on the rare earth market there is little actual movement, which some are blaming on a lack of funding.

As quoted in the market report:

"He pointed to a time three years ago that saw a big surge in new projects coming to the fore when rare earths prices shot up as a result of China’s clamping down on rare earths export (which in some commentators’ views was a political move), but said most of these had now stalled owing to a lack of funding to move them further up the value curve."


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According to Russian newspaper Kommersant, ICT Group, controlled by Russian tycoon Alexander Nesis, and state-owned company Rostec will aim to put the deposit, one of the largest repositories of rare earth elements in the world, into production.

Under the deal, ICT Group will take a controlling 50 percent interest in the project, with Rostec owning 25 percent and the remaining 25 percent controlled by an as-yet unnamed investment fund.

The 250-square-kilometer field, located in the Russian region of Yakutia, is estimated to contain 150 million tonnes of rare earths reserves, including ytrium, niobium oxides, scandium and terbium.

International Business Times reported that the deposit contains a whopping 12 percent of the world’s total rare earth reserves, with proven reserves of 154 million tonnes, and possible reserves exceeding all the rest of the world’s reserves combined.

Assuming that the deposit could be turned into a producing mine or set of mines, it would most certainly pose a challenge to the current rare earth monopoly enjoyed by China, which produces roughly 95 percent of the rare metals used in everything from missile guidance systems to cellular phones and renewable energy applications.

Russia currently only accounts for about two percent of global production and consumption of rare earths; putting the Tomtor deposit into production would see Russia putting significantly more skin in the game.

The only two companies currently in a position to challenge China are Lynas (ASX:LYC), which recently began processing rare earths at its plant in Malaysia shipped from its Mount Weld mine in Australia, and Molycorp (NYSE:MCP), which processes rare earths from its Mountain Pass mine in California.

Meanwhile China, which in 2010 launched a campaign to curb illegal over-production of rare earths elements that was depressing the prices of rare earth oxides, admitted on Friday that its program is not working.

Su Bo, China’s vice-minister of industry, said on the ministry’s website that ”Problems in the industry that have accumulated over the long-term have still not been fundamentally resolved,” adding the following explanation:

“Unplanned exploitation and production of rare earths has affected the normal workings of the market, and illegally-produced rare earth products have reached downstream consumers through a variety of channels or been smuggled abroad, leading to a continuous decline in prices.”

Rare earth oxides enjoyed record prices in 2011 but have since slumped, mostly due to the global economic slowdown, especially in China which is both the world’s largest REE consumer and producer. Overproduction in China has exacerbated the situation.


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The Ministry of Land and Resources decided to execute inspections on rare earth exploration and construction project rare earth recycling.

The MLR set three targets in the Notice Regarding the Implementation of Inspections on Rare Earth Exploration and Construction Project Rare Earth Recycling recently. First, it will inspect illegal rare earth exploration, putting emphasis on illegal mining and exploration without permits, and inhibiting mines that have been closed in previous mineral inspections from restarting. Second, it will strictly inspect rare earth mine exploration, investigating illegal mining. Third, it will inspect rare earth recycling, examining railway, highway, industrial zone, city and town expansion rare earth recycling projects, and distribution of those projects, eliminating illegal recycling, and rectifying the projects which do not meet environmental protection and safety requirements.

The Notice affirms major rare earth producing regions will make inspection plans and implement inspections during May and June, rectifying and reform immediately once any problem is found out. Provincial land and resources departments will examine the inspections to assure the inspections produce concrete results.

The Notice emphasizes the inspections will be implemented by local governments, with the cooperation with environmental protection and safety supervision departments, standardizing rare earth exploration and construction project rare earth recycling, and improving long-term mechanism.


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Rare earth prices have remained sluggish recently, with lanthanum and cerium unsellable, causing profitability of rare earth to decrease sharply.

Rare earth prices reversed their increases in August 2011. As demand for magnetic materials improved since early 2013, didymium prices stabilized, and once rebounded in Q1, hovering around RMB 350,000/mt. Gao Yuxin, an analyst of Ruidow, reported that mainstream prices of didymium were between RMB 370,000-375,000/mt last week, with traded prices lower. That is because didymium supply was ample, but purchases were modest due to low prices and decreasing orders and enterprises cutting production.

Neodymium oxide prices once exceeded RMB 1.40 million/mt in 2011.

Surveys revealed that rare earth prices fell noticeably during the past week.