Rare Earths

China’s near-monopoly brings challenges, opportunities to strategic metals space

Countries dependent on Chinese supply of strategic metals are pursuing strategies to respond to potential shortages of these metals. But while China’s dominance is causing due cause for concern, it also opens up opportunities for juniors developing alternative supplies outside China, writes Liza Mayer.

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Citizen resistance keeps Malaysia rare earths plant on hold

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By Siva Sithraputhran

The expensive machinery lies silent, idling as Malaysia’s government weighs a delicate decision to allow shipments of raw material to arrive from Australia and finally start operations at the world’s largest rare earths plant outside China.

At the industrial estate on the country’s east coast, Read more

Avalon: A heavyweight in the world of rare earth exploration

www.avalonraremetals.com  •  416.364.4938

 

 

Critical to an exploration company’s success is the quality of its ore deposits, and when it comes to rare earths, Avalon Rare Metals’ Nechalacho rare earth project in Thor Lake, NWT, has the goods. The Nechalacho deposit has the highest proportion of the more valuable heavy rare earths — over 20% in the Basal Zone. The heavies are the truly “rare” types of rare earths and are forecast to be in deficit in the years to come. “Avalon is probably the most advanced prospective new producer of the heavy rare earths and is in a good position to be first to market with a significant new supply of the heavies by 2015,” says President and CEO Don Bubar. He discusses the project’s progress and the key distinguishing features of Avalon as a rare earth investment opportunity.

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Lynas seeks more rare-earths buyers

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MINING: Lynas is in negotiations with potential buyers of its rare-earths products in Europe, Japan and the US as it looks to push ahead with a ramp-up of its Malaysian processing plant later this year.

The company, whose facility in the Malaysian city of Kuantan is all but complete, is already majority-contracted for its first phase of products. Read more

Japan to produce dysprosium in JV with Kazakhstan

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JAPAN will jointly develop rare earths with Kazakhstan as part of its efforts to secure supplies of the key minerals now controlled by China, a newspaper said.

Japan plans to reach an accord when trade and industry minister Yukio Edano visits the central Asian country in early May and meets Kazakh government officials, including President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Read more

PERSPECTIVE: Canadian C of C wakes up to rare earths

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By Marilyn Scales

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is touting rare earth elements as a “rare opportunity” for Canada. In its report, Canada’s Rare Earth Deposits Can Offer a Substantial Competitive Advantage, issued on April 26, the C of C lets loose with the hyperbole, saying that it is time for Canada to “start punching above its weight” and to “leverage” what is the “oil of the 21^st Century.” Read more

Canadian miner vies to be major rare-earth supplier

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By Pav Jordan

The race is on for mining companies vying to become the world’s next big producers of heavy rare-earth minerals, used to manufacture components for everything from vent fans for jet engines to laser-guided systems for smart bombs.

From hundreds of companies actively exploring for rare-earth deposits, only a handful – including a few Canadian – have made discoveries that could establish them as key suppliers in the quickly evolving market. Read more

Molycorp boosts rare-earth estimates

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Molycorp Inc. (MCP-N  34.71  1.52  4.58%), one of the only non-Chinese producers of rare earths, has raised its estimates of the reserves contained in its California mine, signalling a longer life for a facility that could supply U.S. green technologies for years to come.

Shares of Molycorp, which is buying rare-earth processor Neo Material Technologies (NEM-T  11.20  0.05  0.45%) for $1.3-billion, rose more than 7 per cent on Monday after it said its Read more

Rare Earth Supplies in U.S. to Meet Defense Needs, Pentagon Says

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By Gopal Ratnam

Domestic rare earth supplies will meet the U.S. defense industry’s needs by 2013 for the materials that go into military motors and electronics, according to a Pentagon report sent to Congress.

China, the world’s largest producer of rare earth materials, accounting for at least 90 percent of the global supply, has tried to restrict supplies. The 17 materials include elements such as neodymium, samarium and dysprosium that also go into commercial products, including hybrid batteries, mobile phones and computer hard drives. Read more

Acron to Begin Producing Phosphates in July, Studies Rare Earths

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By Ilya Khrennikov and Yuliya Fedorinova

OAO Acron (AKRN) will make phosphate at the Russian fertilizer producer’s project in Murmansk region from July, and study setting up rare earth output at the site.

The company, based in Velikiy Novgorod, plans to achieve full capacity for production of apatite concentrate, a form of phosphate, at the Oleniy Ruchey project by the end of the year, its press office said today by phone, citing comments by Chairman Alexander Popov at a ceremony at the facility. Read more

Japan Urges Cooperation, Dialogue With China on Rare Earths

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By Jae Hur and Ichiro Suzuki

Japan, the world’s biggest importer of rare earths, wants international cooperation for alternatives, conservation, diversification and recycling and to continue dialogue with China to secure stable global supply.

“The supply chain of rare-earth related products is connected globally,” Keiro Kitagami, vice minister at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Read more

Heavy rare earths dominate for Australian junior

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By Lawrence Williams

While ‘rare earths’ is one of the sectors attracting huge attention at the moment, not all rare earths are created equal in the eyes of users.

The rare earths complex is generally considered to comprise a suite of some seventeen separate elements, but some of these are much more common in known occurrences than others -  mostly at the lighter end of the rare earths spectrum Read more

Barack Obama will press WTO to force China to ease hold on rare earths

A senior White House official said on condition of anonymity that the US would bring Read more

Molycorp joins rare-earths rush with Neo Material deal

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By John Kell

China now planning to boost rare earths exports and output

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By Shivom Seth

China is set to double exports of rare earths in 2012 from its drastically lower 2011 levels in order to meet quotas set by the government. Though the overseas sales quota is expected to remain more or less unchanged in 2012, the Asian powerhouse has actually been curbing exports since 2009 in a bid to conserve mining resources and to tackle environmental concerns. A new plan has also been envisaged that will boost output considerably. Read more

Quest: An Advanced Rare Earth Investment

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What materials make wind turbines turn? Why are hybrid vehicles so clean? And what makes smart phones so smart? For all these modern technologies, and more, there are rare earth elements. Read more

South African project may host highest grade rare earths deposit outside China

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By John Chadwick

One of the largest known rare earth resources outside of China classified under international resource reporting standards could well be in production by mid-2015. Frontier Rare Earth’s primary asset is the Zandkopsdrift project containing 950,000 t TREO (total rare earth oxides and includes the elements lanthanum to lutetium expressed as trivalent oxides). The Zandkopsdrift B Zone has the highest known TREO grade and the highest grade of high value HREOs of significant advanced deposits (those with >200,000 t TREO) outside of China. Read more

China absent at rare-earths conference

Copper Rises as Stronger Manufacturing Bolsters Demand Prospects

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By Agnieszka Troszkiewicz

Copper rose in New York, extending its best start to a year since 2003, as stronger gauges of manufacturing in China and India bolstered demand prospects.

The official purchasing managers’ index for China, the biggest global copper user, gained to 50.5 in January, the country’s statistics bureau said. Indian manufacturing swelled at the fastest pace in eight months. The Institute for Supply Management may say today its U.S. manufacturing measure increased at a swifter rate last month, according to economists. Read more

Malaysia conditionally approves Lynas Corp rare earths plant

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By Niluksi Koswanage

Malaysian authorities approved a temporary operating license for Australia’s Lynas Corp.’s $200 million rare earths processing plant, a move seen as crucial to easing China’s grip on the supply of minerals used in products from smart phones to hybrid cars.

The approval by the country’s Atomic Energy Licensing Board on Wednesday eases uncertainty for Lynas Read more

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