US Rare Earths reported that the USGS has confirmed the presence of dark monazite at the US Rare Earth Last Chance mine. The company has demonstrated that dark monazite has lower potential processing costs. The Last Chance Mine is located in the Lemhi Pass Area of Idaho and Montana, and it contains one of the longest, identified mineralized veins in the region. The Lemhi Pass area has more than 200 mineralized veins. The company holds 140 claims in the Lemhi Pass area which cover a significant number of these historically known mineralized veins. The USGS has identified the presence of dark monazite at the Last Chance Mine.
This unique mineralization, enriched in the mid-rare earth elements - particularly europium - provides multiple avenues for continued process innovation, with the potential for a very significant reduction in acid consumption compared to other processing methods, the company said. Acid leaching in the Rare Earth processing system typically adds a significant contribution to the operating costs. The work to date indicates that the main high-value rare earth minerals are dark monazite, enriched in neodymium, europium, and xenotime (an yttrium-phosphate mineral). The recovery rate of the following assayed rare earths, based on feed to testing, was lanthanum 94.1 per cent, cerium 94.1 per cent, neodymium 93.8 per cent, praseodymium 93.8 per cent, samarium 88.2 per cent, europium 92.8 per cent, gadolinium 91.6 per cent and yttrium 93.1 per cent in 38 per cent of the feed.
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