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#1
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China tightens grip on rare earths
China tightens grip on rare earths
Article from: The Australian THE late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping once said: "The Middle East has oil, China has rare earths". Now his successors could add: "And we also have Australia's rare earths". And that means China keeps its control of the global rare earths market - and allows it to call the tune on the future of a number of industries, including electronic and green technologies. Rare earths came into their own with colour television - europium, for example, is necessary to have the colour red on your (TV and computer) screen; terbium produces the colour green. Dysprosium, for example, is necessary in the production of compact discs and can also be used in some nuclear control applications. Yttrium, among its many uses, has properties that allow it to be used in the transmission of acoustic energy. Batteries and magnets are other uses for rare earth elements. But these elements have many military applications as well, which gives a political and strategic dimension to the announcement today that China Non-Ferrous Metal Mining will become the majority shareholder in Lynas Corp (LYC), a company which has the Mt Weld project in Western Australia, said to be the world’s richest undeveloped deposit of rare earths. The Chinese will commit a total of $500 million to Lynas, the first tranche being $US286 million to get Mt Weld into production at the rate of 10,500 tonnes a year of rare earth oxides. It follows less that two months a deal which saw East China Exploration take a 25 per cent in the other main rare earths play, Arafura Resources (ARU). This company has rare earths at its Nolan’s project in the Northern Territory. And both deals come against a background of China, which produces more than 90 per cent of the world’s rare earths, working to ensure that it maintains its stranglehold on those elements. Use foreign sources, and save our own, is Beijing’s policy. In February it again reduced the export quotas for its domestically produced rare earths: in 2004, Chinese miners were able to export 48,040 tonnes but this has been gradually reduced year by year so that 2009’s quota stands at 30,086 tonnes. Apart from the military issue that has Washington concerned, The Times reported recently that China being what it called the “ultimate monopolist” in rare earth metals would allow that country control over the future of consumer electronics and green technology. “The time may be rapidly approaching when it will be impossible for any company to produce a wind turbine or hybrid electric car (this) communist country," the paper's Asia correspondent wrote. And now the chance of Australia to call the shots on its rare earths seemed to have gone for good.
Disclaimer: The author of this post, may or may not be a shareholder of any of the companies mentioned in this column. No company mentioned has sponsored or paid for this content. Comments on this forum should never be taken as investment advice. |
#2
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We still have a chance to retain our REEs
Whilst I agree with Robin Bromby's view that Australia is in danger of losing control over its REEs to China..... There is still a chance that:
A. It won't get by Swan Re the LYC deal B. More importantly we still have a chance of holding GGG which owns almost as much REEs as China. Read more
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#3
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Hi Sparty,
Just found this most interesting message board. "There is still a chance that: A. It won't get by Swan Re the LYC deal" I'm sorry, who is Swan? Can you expand slightly? "...GGG which owns almost as much REEs as China" I had no idea. I need to ckeck this out. Can you expand on this just a bit in the mean time? Thanks SMH
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#4
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Ok, I see. Large resource and growing. Resource update possible any time and pre-feasibility in 3Q09.
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#5
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Re LYC
Swan is our current labor party treasurer... a great leap forward from the previous incumbent Costello.
LYC has in fact now got CNMC as a new shareholder. (China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co., Ltd (CNMC) with 51.66%. The upside is that LYC probably now has the funds to move forward to mining and processing. See: http://www.lynascorp.com/content/upload/files/press_releases/Lynas_Media_Release_010509.pdf
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#6
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Re ggg
HI SMH
There might be a problem with Greenlands new parliament. There is a rumour that it might be that they might block the mining of GGG's uranium.. this might make it difficult to get the REEs. Latest info seems to discount this happening.
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#7
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More Info re Rare Earths
Disclaimer: The author of this post, may or may not be a shareholder of any of the companies mentioned in this column. No company mentioned has sponsored or paid for this content. Comments on this forum should never be taken as investment advice. |
#8
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This Paterson's broker report expands on the CNMC deal and the possible outcomes
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#9
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Thanks for the replies Sparty. Ipicked up the following excerpts from the GGG website, which I find very encouraging.
Greenland Minerals’ resource estimates are JORC compliant and were released to the market in May, with an update in August 2008. They are based on a diamond-core drilling program of 10,000 metres conducted by the company in the northern summer of 2007. The explorer is expected to release a revised resource estimate to the Australian Securities Exchange late in the first quarter of this year, based on the 2008 drilling program of 20,000m. The company will then use these estimates to update its resource model and finalise its targets for its 2009 drilling campaign, scheduled for May-October. A JORC-compliant resource statement will then be released. This will feed into the Kvanefjeld prefeasibility study with completion scheduled for late 2009. Greenland Minerals has a 60% stake in the Kvanefjeld project, with a non-expiring option to increase that to 100%. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As world oil reserves diminish and mineral explorers look for frontier destinations, interest in Greenland has intensified, with Canadians and Australians heading up the pack. A nascent movement among Greenland’s people and Government to capitalise on that interest partly explained the overwhelming support for self rule in a public referendum held in November. While Greenland was granted home rule from Denmark in 1979, the freedoms it gained did not extend to authority over a number of things including minerals and oil rights. That will change with self rule. Greenlandics see resources as the way to financial independence, and thus genuine independence, from the Crown. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the time of writing in early 2009, it would be illegal to mine Kvanefjeld because of its uranium content. GME managing director Rod McIllree said Kvanefjeld, on the southern tip of Greenland, was more than viable based purely based on its rare earths content, saying it “may be the world’s largest stand-alone occurrence of rare earths”. While in-principle support for by-product uranium mining is a major victory for GME and other prospective miners, there are still obstacles. One is timing – GME will commence a feasibility study in 2009 and hope Greenland has a legislated uranium extraction policy by the time it is complete. The Government may need little convincing. Mining currently accounts for less than 1% of Greenland’s GDP. McIllree said the effect Kvanefjeld would have on the figure would be immense. “Very profound – 20-30%,” he said. A requisite for achieving policy change was getting Greenland’s public on side of uranium mining, albeit as a by-product. Schønwandt said doing so would not be simple. “We have to participate strongly in the discussion with the locals in the next year to get this through. We know we have to do a bit more on the promotion side but I’m confident we will get there.”
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#10
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China tightens grip on rare earths
The weight and magnetic properties of rare-earth metals have made them important for wind turbines, essential to hybrid cars, and indispensable if the world ever hopes to covert to fully electric vehicles. One mining company president told The Times that governments that had promised a way out of economic turmoil with bold schemes to subsidise green cars, solar panels and other environmental technology had .spoken without understanding the upstream of modern products.Times of London "
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Tags |
china, lynas, rare earth |
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