Meteoric says China’s rare-earth restrictions underscore value of Brazil project
China’s move to tighten export controls on a range of medium and heavy rare-earth elements has brought renewed focus to alternative supply sources, with Australia-listed Meteoric Resources believing that its project in Brazil could emerge as a strategically significant option.
The restrictions, announced on Friday, target key rare-earth metals and compounds such as terbium, dysprosium, and scandium.
In a news release on Monday, Meteoric MD Stuart Gale said that the curbs underscored the importance of its 100%-owned Caldeira ionic clay project. He stated that the scale and quality of Caldeira offered a long-life solution for the delivery of critical rare earths to global supply chains.
Gale added that expected resource updates for the Barra do Pacu and Agostinho deposits would increase future production volumes and that exploration was expected to uncover additional rare-earth oxides (REOs) to further expand the project’s resource base.
The Caldeira project currently holds a global resource containing significant volumes of magnetic REOs, including 5 000 t of terbium oxide, 25 000 t of dysprosium oxide, 151 000 t of praseodymium oxide, and 438 000 t of neodymium oxide. Meteoric said its annual operating costs are forecast to average $5.33/kg of total REO in the first five years of operation and $6.74/kg over the life-of-mine.
With a mineral resource estimate of 1.1-billion tonnes and magnetic REO recoveries of 70%, Meteoric said the project was one of the highest-grade ionic adsorption clay rare-earth deposits in the world.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation