Australian (ASX) Stock Market Forum

Rare Earths

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I've just been reading that MP Materials Corp are limiting the export of NdPr products to China for processing which has caused a rise in price towards the baseline guaranteed price set by the US government. It looks as if Trump's moves with MP will give producers outside China some better bargaining chips with China for processing.

And speaking of chips, it would appear that last years' semiconductor moves will be that of RE this year.

gg
 
barney said:
My old mate VML hit the movers today ... Maybe there's life in the old dog yet! (no longer hold)

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Interesting. 6.8mil cash injection to develop their Canadian project (by an American investor no less). Don't know if they'll escape tarrifs though.... and still not sure they'll actually be able to produce anything...

Definitely a speculative buy
 
houtman said:
This looks interesting for followers of rare earths
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and more academe. Do they fit the theory based on what's been found?

According to Geoscience Australia, the nation’s niobium resource is currently confined to a small number of deposits, largely as a by-product or co-product of rare earth element or rare earth element (REE)-zirconium mineralisation.

Rated as a critical mineral by a number of countries including Australia, niobium is attracting increasing demand for its primary use as an alloying element to strengthen steel, improving fuel efficiency in vehicles and infrastructure....

Now, the new study of rare rocks buried deep beneath central Australia have revealed the origins of one of what is being described as one of the world’s most promising new deposits of niobium.

The study has found that niobium-rich carbonatites were injected more than 800 million years ago after melted material travelled towards the surface through pre-existing fault zones during a tectonic rifting event.

Author of the study, Dr Maximilian Dröllner from Curtin’s Frontier Institute for Geoscience Solutions and the University of Göttingen in Germany said the findings have identified how rare, metal-rich magmas reach the surface – and why the Australian deposit is so interesting.

“These carbonatites are unlike anything previously known in the region and contain important concentrations of niobium,” Dr Dröllner said....



smallcaps.com.au

Australia’s Niobium Future Boosted by Curtin University Study into Ancient Rocks

A Curtin University-led study has identified significant new potential to boost Australia’s niobium stocks. According to Geoscience Australia, the
smallcaps.com.au smallcaps.com.au
 
houtman said:
This looks interesting for followers of rare earths.

I don't follow at all, too confusing for me with ionic, non-ionic, clays etc and also them not being all that rare.


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The Company Bought an Australian Company in October last Year (Base Resources) Developing What will be a very Lucrative mine in Madagascar with a 40 year mine life (Toliara Project)

They have also entered into a Big Contract with another Australian company (Astron Ltd ATR) For Supply of Critical minerals used in the Process of Uranium ( Donald Project in Victoria)
 
Sean K said:
Might be good news for our RE players.

I wonder what other critical minerals will be included.

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today's ann. issued by ILU might be a blessing in disguise

closing down ( temporarily ) those two mines might free up cash and staff for the RE project

but i think i would need lower than the current price to add to the existing holding

( it also does not bode well for the wider global economy if titanium demand is fairly flat )
 
houtman said:
I don't follow at all, too confusing for me with ionic, non-ionic, clays etc and also them not being all that rare.
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the trick is rare earths are mostly plentiful , but NOT in commercial concentrations , and some of them are very dirty/costly to extract and process

AND because they are dirty and expensive to refine ... China got the monster's share of REE processing

.. so given recent trade tensions , who will mine AND process outside China/India . and will the miners get squeezed so the expensive processing can happen in the West ?
 
divs4ever said:
the trick is rare earths are mostly plentiful , but NOT in commercial concentrations , and some of them are very dirty/costly to extract and process

AND because they are dirty and expensive to refine ... China got the monster's share of REE processing

.. so given recent trade tensions , who will mine AND process outside China/India . and will the miners get squeezed so the expensive processing can happen in the West ?
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Dumb money entering the rare earth market for a quick speculation is my thought at the moment.

When has the US ever paid good money for anything that Australia sells?

They'll go to Indonesia or India to process it before here.
 
@divs4ever and @TimeISmoney the refining of REE is a huge issue for companies in Australia, I just cannot see how a company like ARU gets off the ground even with $1 billion backing of the current Labor government. I also would like to see how ILU go at full production at Eneabba and LYC has already off shored the "dirty" part of the process to Malaysia

After all not to get political, isn't this the party for the people and environment?
 
countrylad said:
@divs4ever and @TimeISmoney the refining of REE is a huge issue for companies in Australia, I just cannot see how a company like ARU gets off the ground even with $1 billion backing of the current Labor government. I also would like to see how ILU go at full production at Eneabba and LYC has already off shored the "dirty" part of the process to Malaysia

After all not to get political, isn't this the party for the people and environment?
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The way I look at it is that if it's not practical to process lithium into batteries here, I can't see them doing REE in a hurry. I did notice they're starting to backpedal on the Net Zero policy in Australia due to competitiveness, but for REE, our high labour rate and environmental laws, it would be highly unlikely at this stage that you would see full processing production of REE.
 
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