Australian Rare Earths

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Old 05-29-2011, 01:24 AM
Sparty Sparty is offline
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Default China's new Rare Earth Exchange: Buy ALK

Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Co Ltd, the world's largest rare-earth producer, will set up the Baotou Rare-Earth Products Exchange to further regulate the market.

It will be the country's first rare-earth product exchange and will trade only spot products, excluding futures, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

It will take six months to complete the process of establishing the company, which will be registered on August 8, the statement said.

Wang Caifeng, a former official at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) who is setting up the country's Rare Earth Association, said the exchange will help increase the transparency and regularization of the rare-earth trading market.

She also said the Rare Earth Association, which will act like the China Iron and Steel Association, assisting companies in exports and international cooperation and leading price talks with foreign buyers, is still in the process of becoming established under the MIIT guidelines.

The Inner Mongolia autonomous region's Bayan Obo Mine in Baotou city - the source of 97 percent of the country's reserves - has unified the exploration of rare-earth minerals.

Baotou Steel Rare-Earth has said it wants to further consolidate companies from Fujian and Jiangxi provinces, which are rich in heavy rare-earth metals.

Rare-earth metals is the collective name for 17 elements that are used in the manufacture of such products as wind turbines, hybrid cars and missile guidance systems.

Extensive reserves of light rare-earth metal have been discovered in Inner Mongolia, and their production is dominated by Baotou Steel Rare-Earth. The more expensive heavy rare earths are scattered across a number of provinces and mined by larger producers as well as local small miners.

The State Council said on May 19 that it plans to consolidate the rare-earth sector by letting the biggest domestic players dominate the industry within two years, the first time that the Chinese government has publicly said it will let the biggest companies lead the industry.

The top three domestic conglomerates in the ion-absorbed-type rare-earth sector in the south of the country are set to hold more than 80 percent of the market share, said the State Council in a document

Source: China Daily

This could get very interesting and rather quickly. I note that the emphasis is on the heavy rare earths.... the ones that the USA doesn't have.... I read a report re the outlook for Yttrium last week... and it seems that Yttrium is going to be one of the most acute shortages... Time for a look at Alkane Resources (ALK) and Greenland Energy and Minerals (GGG) if you aren't already in. Both have massive resources and both are very cheap. ALK's growth may well be explosive. A peek at the ultra-microcap Krucible Metals (KRB) in the context of Yttrium could be worthwhile...

I hold multiple REE companies including the above.

 

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Old 07-26-2011, 02:16 AM
Sparty Sparty is offline
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Default ALKANE kicks another goal

ALKANE RESOURCES' announced today a MOU with MINTECH for DZP Zirconium valued at ~$48m per year.

This is the DZP's second MOU and will place ALK at the forefront of evolving supply demand increase for Zirconium, a market that is 90% dominated by China at the moment and one that is expected to be in a substantial supply shortage quite soon. Given the recent rapid increase in Zirconium prices this represents another leap forwards for the DZP project that goes beyond the DZP's Heavy-Rare Earths.

See the deals details


Read about Australian Zircon.

 

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Old 08-15-2011, 01:28 AM
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Default ALKANE up on MOU for DZP Zircon

About Zircon and Zirconium Materials
The total downstream zirconium market worldwide is forecast by TZ Minerals International Pty Ltd (TZMI) to reach 163,000 tpa of zirconia (ZrO2) by 2012, which will require 250,000 tpa of zircon feed or approximately 18% of total zircon usage. The zirconium market is the highest growth market for zircon at
around 11% per annum and includes zirconium chemicals, chemical and fused zirconia and zirconium metal.

At this growth rate, the zirconium market will require the equivalent one new DZP sized operation each year (1M tpa ore processed to produce 15,000 tpa zirconia) to meet demand.

ZOC (36% ZrO2) is the primary zirconium chemical used to produce most downstream zirconium chemicals, chemical zirconia, and zirconium metal.

Existing ZOC production relies on zircon as the key raw material for downstream zirconium products.

China dominates world ZOC supply with a 90% share of the 200,000 tpa market, which is currently worth around US$800 million. Approximately 40% of Chinese ZOC production is exported as ZOC or downstream zirconium chemicals and zirconia, while the remaining 60% is consumed in China.

Strong zircon demand, combined with a flat to falling supply outlook, has fuelled a dramatic increase in zircon prices. Contracted zircon prices from mineral sands companies are US$2,300-2,500/tonne in Q3 3/5 2011, while spot prices reached RMB 21,000 per tonne (US$3,200/t) or higher in China (17% VAT included) in early May. This resulted in ZOC prices increasing by over 285% in the past year to approximately US$4,000/t, FOB China for August deliveries. As ZOC contains 36% zirconia, the current ZOC price equates to approximately US$11,100 per tonne of zirconia for August deliveries. Current
Chinese chemical zirconia prices range from US$10,000 to 15,000/t.

As a source of zirconium is critical, substitution is least likely in this market with AZL?s DZP, which is backed by a very long and sustainable mine life, being the only alternative to zircon for the immediate future.

http://www.australian-shares.com/australian-zircon

 

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Old 08-22-2011, 02:05 AM
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Default The Australian's Robin Bromby -Petra capital

A little note by The Australian's Robin Bromby cites Petra capital has put a $5.19 target price on ALK... a 300%+ rise on Friday's price.....

Gold, Zircon and the H-REEs are the go!

I hold ALK

 

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