ProEdgeWire will host the Second annual Technology Metals Summit 2013 will be held on April 21-22, 2013 in Toronto, Canada and it will be the largest non-Chinese rare earth and critical minerals event of the year. Just days later, in the eastern hemisphere, the Association of China Rare Earth Industry (ACREI) will be holding its annual conference in Shanghai, China at the end of April. Having more than 302 companies as members and covering the whole rare earth industry chain from across the country, ACREI has become the largest rare earth industry organization in the world. It is not unique, but has its counterpart. While the events are no doubt different, especially insofar as the politics realities of rare earths are concerned, both will provide platforms for useful and necessary discussions in the sector.

It is a complex period for the world’s rare earth industry. A sharp drop in rare earth prices over the last year has erased the profits of rare earth producers around the world, including, for instance, Molycorp, which reported heavy losses in 2012. China’s rare earth smelting separation plants have been facing a tidal wave of comprehensive losses due to a persistent slump in domestic market prices in January of this year, according to the latest report from the Association of Jiangsu Rare Earth Industries. Indeed, “2013 may be the most difficult year for the country’s rare earth sector”, Chinese insiders said.

                  

The problem is not the amount but the prices. China exported 1,106 metric tons of rare-earth ore, metals and compounds in February alone, up 289.12 percent compared with the same month of last year, the average export price was USD$ 22,654.13/ton, the total export value was USD$ 25.06 million, moreover, the other rare earth processed products accounted for a total 2,501 metric tons in exports, up 47.5 percent year-on-year with an average export price of USD$ 51,962.42/ton. In January, China exported 1,092 metric tons of rare earth ore, metals and compounds; the average export price was USD$ 25,540.9/ton, while the total export value was $27.89 million, according to the figures released by the China Customs Statistics Information Center on March 21, 2013.

The official figures showed China’s total exports to be 2,198 metric tons of rare earth oxide (REO) products in the first two months of this year, up 8.13 percent compared with the same period in 2012; however, the export prices continue to decline and remain relatively low on a month-on-month basis.

For China, things are a little more complicated. China’s rare earth enterprises faced various tests including industry consolidation, environmental assessments and industry access. Meanwhile, due to the weak demand and a supply glut, prices have dropped as a result; we can see that a light rare earth supply capacity of the rest of the world is starting to grow, which will make prices an issue of concern for the entire rare earth market in 2013. This makes the Toronto and Shanghai conferences in late April very important events as we look forward to the world’s rare earth industry leaders finding new ideas and new wisdom to boost rare earth prices.


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Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. is one of the few truly integrated companies in the REE field outside of China and its Steenkampskraal project in South Africa project enhances this aspect. The fits within Great Western’s reputation as one of the most vertically integrated companies in the rare earths sector. The Company has pursued and developed mining and processing capabilities in Europe, North America and South Africa.  Great Western has also cultivated important relationships in China such that in 2010, the Company established a joint venture agreement with Ganzhou Qiandong Rare Earth Group. The exploration side is complemented by two specialty alloy manufacturers supplying the aerospace, battery and magnet sectors.

The Steenkampskraal project will also provide raw material to the development of the Company’s processing units. On March 18, 2013, GWMG released a very favorable Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the Steenkampskraal project. The PEA was announced just days after GWMG announced that its wholly owned subsidiary of Less Common Metals Limited (“LCM”) has now started commercial production rare earth specialty alloy using a new rare earth alloy strip casting furnace, delivering the products to three customers with more deliveries planned before the end of the Quarter while a second strip casting furnace is expected for delivery later this spring, adding to GWMG’s commercial capacity and a establishing an additional source of revenue growth. The fact that GWMG has invested in the special furnaces suggests that the Company is confident in the market potential for rare earth alloys.

                  

The PEA is based on the recently filed SEDAR filed Resource Estimate for the Project, the highlights of which are Inferred mineral resources of 278,000 tons (avg. 15.2% TREO) and Indicated Resources of 176,000 tons (avg. 18.2% TREO). The high grades of the resource allow GWMG to produce higher grade products at lower production costs, which when added to the growing alloy business suggest the project is fully on track. GWMG also said it is very interested in studying off-take agreements to further facilitate the financing of the project while establishing the basis for long term supply customers. The NI 43-101 resource estimate for the Steenkampskraal Rare Earth mine issued last spring indicated 45,500 tons with 22.3% total rare earth oxides (TREO –  including Yttrium), 21.46% light rare earth oxides (LREO) and 0.86% heavy rare earth oxides (HREO). The results fulfilled Great Western’s expectations warranting the Company to pursue further exploration to expand the resource base.

The updated estimate has virtually more than doubled the tonnages with indicated resources of 176,000 and inferred resources of 278,000 with TREO percentages of 18.2% and 15.2% respectively. GWMG is well integrated, owning downstream facilities that produce special alloys for the aerospace industry in the USA and UK. By expanding the resource GWMG can expect to feed its own and others’ downstream activities such as to become one of the premier HREO suppliers in the world, making it one of the most vertically integrated companies in the rare earths sector. GWMG also is also exploring properties in North America and has secured ties to China’s Ganzhou Qiandong Rare Earth Group through a joint venture deal. Great Western, therefore, has an advantage in the race to offset China’s dominant position in rare earths production. GWMG expects to begin mixed rare earth chloride production no longer than two years after obtaining full project financing (at about 5,000 tons/year REO a year) such as to launch separated REO production a year after that.The Chinese government’s continuing consolidation and tighter supply of the REE industry, which has stimulated the re-opening of REE mines and exploration outside of China, has contributed greatly to investors’ interest in this sector. While, China is always in a position to start flooding the REE market (even though there are substantial political and economic reasons for which this is less likely than last year) However, there is always the lingering awareness that China, which is to REE what Saudi Arabia is to oil, could decide to reverse its policy (not that there is any chance of that now) and flood the market with cheap rare metals. Great Western’s proposition is that it helps to meet the current demand for the rare earths while also controlling rare earth deposits in more than one continent.


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Hastings Rare Metals is noted for being one of the emerging rare metals plays with a strong potential to produce heavy rare earth oxides (HREO). Through its two REE projects, Hastings aims to become a leading global supplier of dysprosium.  The Company is already developing the largest Dysprosium project in Australia (with HREO resources at 35% HREO/ TREO).  Apart from Dysprosium, the Hastings project also distinguishes itself for having large and long term supplies (25 years) of Yttrium oxide, Niobium oxide and Zirconium oxide. Hastings has also been constantly searching – through acquisition and exploration – for additional tenements adjacent to its HREE project so as to gain additional leverage both in terms of exploration potential and infrastructure flexibility.

This week, Hastings announced the identification of two new REE target areas at the Hastings Project in Western Australia after analyzing related radiometric data, which would enable it to complement the current resource. Hastings plans to explore the new targets to evaluate their potential to yield economically viable mineralization; favorable indicators would then lead to drilling. The two additional targets have been identified as ‘Northern’ and ‘Southern”. The targets come with  historical data from soil samples indicating Niobium Oxide (Nb2O5) grades ranging from 0.07% to 0.16% and Yttrium Oxide at 0.06% over a continuous 240 metre wide zone.

Hastings said previous explorers had ignored these rather “encouraging” results to focus on the main target. Indeed, the Southern Target was the object of even less exploration and a recent rock sample yielded 0.18% Nb2O5. Shifting from geological to practical considerations, the new discoveries warrant additional exploration (given the limited yet favorable historical data) essentially expand the scope of the Hastings project, generating more opportunities to complement the already strong program, considered to have the fourth largest JORC heavy rare earth resource in the world. Nevertheless, the value of a rare earth project is only partly related to its resource, regardless of the quality of the mineralization.

                  

It is ever more important for REE explorers to have a viable processing plan in place well in advance. To this effect Hastings has been working with the Australian breakthrough Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO) to optimize the purification of targeted minerals. ANSTO was able to separate Zircon (Zr), Niobium (Nb) and Hafnium (Hf) from the bake-leach fluid, or liquor, achieving an almost total rejection of major impurities. Similar results were obtained for Yttrium (Y). ANSTO’s very significant contribution has been to alter the chemistry in order to considerably extend the liquor’s stability, facilitating control of the process and the extraction of the value-added minerals. For Hastings, this translates to a strategic advantage because it will be able to produce separate REE streams, better matching the needs of individual customers, tailoring supply to demand.

ANSTO has accumulated a vast experience with rare earth projects in validating the chemistry of REE resources, determining sulphation and water leaching parameters among other tests; ANSTO has also worked to improve solvent extraction methods for the recovery of such critical minerals as zirconium and niobium as well as rare earths via solvent extraction and selective stripping. Hastings has also pursued a strategic marketing effort, securing important industry and government contacts in Europe, especially Germany and France, by taking advantage of  Australian trade missions to target the European market, now scrambling to secure reliable REE supplies to boost renewable energy technologies.


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The Indian minister said such mining projects of IREL were located at the Orissa Sand Complex (OSCOM) at Chatrapur in the eastern state of Odisha, at Manavalakurichi in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and at Chavara in Kerala.

The minister had also mentioned that due to the limited availability of mineable land carrying raw beach sand, and the gradual decline in heavy mineral contents in the sand, the mining activities at Chavara and Manavalakurichi had declined over the years.

He had further said that there were some projects in the pipeline for capacity expansion like the one at OSCOM, and another, separated high purity rare earths project by the Rare Earth Division of IREL at Chavara, Kerala.

While Kerala has been one of the Indian states where rare earths are being traditionally mined and extracted, the details of the new plant proposed to be set up by KIOCL are yet to be revealed.

Over the past year or so, India and Japan have been cozying up to each other in REE production.

As reported in MetalMiner, India had recently agreed with Japan to jointly develop rare earths capabilities, and was also said to be watching with keen interest Japan’s prospecting for REE in the Pacific Ocean. In November 2012, Japan had signed an agreement to import 4,100 tons of rare earths on an annual basis from India.

There’s also a subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho called Toyotsu Rare Earths India Pvt. Ltd. based at Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, involved in the production of rare earths. The company operates a monazite sand rare earth production base.

The new-found alliance between Japan and India was interpreted in geo-political circles as a move to counter China’s dominance in the rare earths field.


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