Recent News:

At the end of 2012 the Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth (Group) Hi-Tech Co signed an integration agreement with 12 rare earth producers in Inner Mongolia autonomous region. The move marked the latest step towards the establishment of the Northern Rare Earth Group and the concentration of the light rare earth industry in Northern China.

The Inner Mongolia autonomous region government first issued the integration plan for rare earth upper stream enterprises in the region in May 2011. The plan listed 35 rare earth miners and processors within the framework with Baotou Steel Rare-Earth (Group) Hi-Tech in charge of mining, selection of mine locations, processing, management and separation.

In April 2012 the organisation offered subsidies to 22 upper stream rare earth companies that were closed and opened the integration process to another 13 enterprises.

The final list of companies to be integrated include Baotou Jinmeng Rare Earth Co Limited, Baotou Xinyuan Rare Earth Hi-tech and New Material Co Ltd and Baotou Xinye New Material Co Ltd. According to the latest agreement, 12 companies and their shareholders agreed to hand over 51% of their company shares to Baotou Steel Rare-Earth (Group) Hi-Tech. After completion of the integration, Baotou Steel will be responsible to marketing and sales strategy and their industry and product layout.

In August 2012, general manager Zhang Zhong said that the company would lead the establishment of China North Rare Earths (Group) Hi-tech Co, with the company's light rare earth output expected to account for more than half of the world's total. In October 2012, in order to help stabilise slumping prices in the domestic rare earth market, Baotou Steel Rare-Earth halted some of its smelting and separation operations production for three consecutive months. In March 2012 Baotou Steel Rare-Earth reported net profit in 2011 jumped 360% to 3.48 billion yuan while sales rose 120% to 11.53 billion yuan.

Molycorp Inc. is a Colorado-based mining group and one of the world’s leading rare earths and rare metals companies. With offices in the US, Europe and Japan, the company spans 26 locations in 11 countries and owns the most developed rare earth project outside of China.

Originally formed in 2008 to re-open the Mountain Pass mine and processing facility in California. At its flagship Mountain Pass facility the company mines, crushes, mills and separates rare earth ore to produce individual REEs.
Mountain Pass was originally mined from 1952-2002 and was the world's largest source of rare earths from the mid-60s to the early 90s. At its peak the mine was producing around 70% of world supply. After its formation in 2008 the company immediately began to manufacture rare earth products from surface stockpiles, primarily to develop its processing capabilities but in doing so it also generated some cash flow ($7M in 2009) and became the only current producer of rare earths in the Western Hemisphere.

In addition to its current production of rare earth oxides at Mountain Pass, the company produces rare earth metals, rare earth alloys (such as neodymium-iron-boron and samarium-cobalt alloys) and rare metals such as niobium and tantalum.

In March 2012 Molycorp agreed to buy Neo Material Technologies Inc., a processing company listed in Toronto that earnt most of its revenues in Asia. The C$1.30 billion (US$1.31bn) deal served to turn Molycorp into a one-stop rare earth shop, giving Molycorp cutting-edge processing technology, expanding its product portfolio and providing valuable magnetic alloy patents. The takeover also served to reduce the company’s (perceived) reliance on lower value light rare earths such as cerium and lanthanum, expanding its strategic rare metals portfolio to also include gallium, rhenium and indium.

In 2012 Molycorp sold 9,223 tonnes of product across its business segments.
Total Q4 2012 production was 3,102 tonnes (at an average selling price of $43.28/kg).
Total Q2 2013 production amounted to 3,039 tonnes (at an average selling price of $45.04/kg).
The Mountain Pass facility successfully demonstrated an operating capacity in excess of 15,000 tonnes per year of rare earth oxide (REO) equivalent. The company is targeting a planned run rate of 19,050 tonnes of REO p.a.

Reserves: In April 2012 Molycorp announced a 36% increase in its proven and probable reserves of rare earth minerals at Mountain Pass. New estimates that the proven and probable component of Molycorp’s ore body contains approximately 2.94 billion pounds (1.3 million metric tonnes) of contained REO equivalent. This compares to the previous estimate of 2.24 billion pounds of contained REO product (1.02 million metric tonnes).

Resources: According to the latest TMR Index the Mountain Pass facility has a total of 31.55 million tonnes of resources at a grade of 6.567% REO for a total of around 2.072 million tonnes REO.

Arafura Resources Limited is an Australia-based company headquartered in Perth. The company is solely focused on its Nolan Project in Australia, said to be a world class Rare Earths deposit. The project comprises two sites: the Nolans Bore Mine in the Northern Territory and the Whyalla Rare Earths complex in South Australia.

In April 2013 the company announced that it was scrapping plans for a $1 billion minerals processing plant at Whyalla: the company had planned to ship rare earths from its Nolan Bore mine to a dedicated complex and intermediate chemical processing plant in Whyalla for processing, but the company now intends to process the minerals closer to its mine site in the Northern Territories and export it from Darwin.

Its wholly owned subsidiaries include Arafura Group Holdings Pty Ltd, Arafura Rare Earths Pty Ltd, Arafura Uranium Pty Ltd and Arafura Iron Pty Ltd.

None to date. Arafura is targeting production of 20,000 tonnes of rare earth oxide (REO) p.a. (plus potentially co-products of phosphate and uranium) within the next 2 to 3 years.
A feasibility study is relatively advanced, having achieved major process development milestones in 2012 and 2013 via the production of five purified REO products from Nolans Bore material: mixed HRE-Y Oxide, SEG Oxide and NdPr Oxide products, and separated Ce Oxide and La Oxide products.

Headquartered in Perth, Alkane Resources Limited is engaged in the mining and exploration of gold and other minerals and metals in New South Wales, Australia. The company is focused on gold, zirconium, niobium and rare earths. Current development works include the Dubbo Zirconia Project, the Tomingley Gold Project (a medium-sized gold project that will commence production in early 2014), and four copper-gold exploration projects which are currently being evaluated.

The Dubbo Zirconia Project is located 30 kilometres south of the regional centre of Dubbo in the Central West Region of New South Wales. This project is said to be a world-class resource of zirconium, hafnium, niobium, tantalum, yttrium and rare earths. A demonstration pilot plant (DPP) at ANSTO has been running since 2008, allowing Alkane to prove the DZP’s technical and financial viability. The DPP has resulted in the development of a working flowsheet and verified resource extraction and processing methods. Production targeted for late 2014/early 2015.

Alkane’s Tomingley Gold Project is also situated in New South Wales, and is centred on three gold deposits located 14 kilometres north of its Peak Hill Gold Mine. This is a new gold development with total resources (as of 2012) of around 811,700 ounces. Construction has commenced after Alkane received its mining lease in February 2013. Production targeted for early 2014.

The company’s Peak Hill gold mine has previously been in production from 1996 – 2005. The McPhillamys Gold Project is a major gold discovery of around 3 million ounces (joint venture with Newmont. Newmont currently 51%).

None to date. Production from the Dubbo Zirconia Project targeted for late 2014/early 2015. The mine is expected to process 1,000,000 tonnes of ore throughput per year over a period of 70 years or more.
Expected DZP output in 2016 of 16,000 tonnes p.a. of zirconium materials, 4,900 tpa rare earth oxides, and 3,000 tpa ferroniobium.
Production from the Tomingley Gold Project targeted for early 2014.

According to the latest Technology Metals Research (TMR) Index, total REO resources at the company's Dubbo Zirconia Project in Australia consist of 73.20 million tonnes @ 0.89% total REO, equating to 651,480 tonnes.

According to the company’s website, total P&P mineral reserves (2011) at the Tomingley Gold Project amount to 209,100 ounces of gold, and total resources (2012) amount to 811,700 ounces of gold.

Frontier Rare Earths Limited, formerly Frontier Minerals Limited, is a Canada-based company. An exploration and development company engaged in finding, mining and processing rare earth mineral resources in South Africa. Frontier is focused on its flagship Zandkopsdrift rare earth deposit, which covers a total area of 58,862 hectares in the south western part of the Northern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa (450km from Cape Town).

The Zandkopsdrift Project is said to be one of the largest, code-compliant rare earth deposits under development in the world, comprising a large, rare earth-bearing carbonatite and 30 smaller satellite intrusives.

The Zandkopsdrift Zone has the highest TREO grade and the highest grade of high value HREOs (europium, terbium and dysprosium) of significant advanced deposits (greater than 200,000 tonnes TREO) outside of China.

In December 2011, Frontier signed a definitive joint venture agreement with Korea Resources Corporation (KORES), focused on the financing and development of the Zandkopsdrift rare earth project. Under this agreement Kores acquired an initial 10% stake in Zandkopsdrift together with an offtake right and obligation for 10% of Frontier's Zandkopsdrift rare earth production. The consideration for the 10% stake in Zandkopsdrift acquired by Kores was C$23.8m. [Kores is the Korean Government-owned mining and natural resource investment company whose mandate is to ensure that Korean industry has secure access to strategically important mineral resources. As rare earths are critical raw materials needed to support Korea's high technology industry and future economic growth, the Zandkopsdrift project is a strategic priority project for both Kores and Korea].

In October 2012, Frontier announced a significant expansion of their strategic partnership with Kores, whereby Kores has an option to increase its participation in Zandkopsdrift from its current 10% interest up to a 50% or equal interest with Frontier in Zandkopsdrift, together with a pro-rata off-take right and obligation for up to 50% of production from Zandkopsdrift.

None to date. According to the latest company presentation (dated August 2013), with construction now due to start in 2014/15, the company is targeting production of 20,000 tonnes rare earths p.a. for around 2016.

The latest TMR Index defines Zandkopsdrift rare earth resources as follows: 42.48 million tonnes @ 2.223% TREO, equating to around 948,578 tonnes total rare earths.

Headquartered in Vancouver, Tasman Metals Ltd. is a junior resource company. The company is engaged in the acquisition and exploration of unproven rare earth elements (REE) and also holds interests in iron ore properties in Scandinavia.

Tasman is in the process of exploring and evaluating its mineral properties. The company's REE Project's include Sweden, which consists of 100% ownership of Norra Karr and Olserum (said to be two of the world’s most significant heavy rare earth element projects); Finland, which consist of Korsnas, Otanmaki, Siilinjarvi and Laivajoki, and Norway. Norra Karr is the company’s flagship project and is said to be the fourth largest heavy rare earth (HREE) deposit in the world.

As of August 31, 2012, the company was the 100% owner of 124 claims and claim applications for metals, including rare earth elements in Sweden, Finland and Norway, and the owner of various interests in four iron ore exploration claims in the Kiruna district of Sweden.

In October 2011, Tasman announced the acquisition of a 100% interest in a rare earth element project in southern Sweden, located only 100 kilometres east of the company's flagship Norra Karr project.