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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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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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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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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