Rare Earths in Chile - The Next Big Thing?

Rare Earth Deposits & Mining / Rare Earth Exploration, Mining, Processing, & Uses

Date posted: 06/11/15

Teresa Matich reports that investors in the rare earths industry might have been hearing a bit more about rare earths in Chile lately. Privately held mining company BioLantanidos has been making headlines with its rare earths project in the country, set to begin producing by the end of 2016. Held by private equity firm Minera Activa, BioLantanidos has been developing its rare earths project over the past four years. The company says that the project could have one of the lowest cash costs and capex requirements in the world. More importantly, some are saying the company could provide some much needed competition with China. That is largely due to the fact that the project hosts an ionic clay deposit, and that BioLantanidos is targeting a more environmentally friendly method of extraction. Ionic clay deposits are responsible for much of the cheap (and sometimes illegal) rare earths production in the South of China, but Hykawy has pointed out in the past that such deposits could also exist in South America, Africa and possibly even North America. Ignacio Del Ra­o, CEO of Mineria Activa, said that BioLantanidos deposit is similar to those in the South of China. They understand that it is very similar in grade and composition, he said. They already have a couple of Chinese entities proving that for them. Still, the company will not be able to use the same extraction methods used in China, because those involve pumping chemicals directly into the ground. In terms of economics for the project, he said that it is important to note BioLantanidos will not have one large area under construction. Rather, the company has found it is more economic to set up multiple, small plants and operations at each high- grade zone of the clay deposit. To reach the company goal of 10,000 tonnes of rare earth concentrate production per year, Del Rio estimated that the company would build roughly 20 small plants that would produce about 500 tonnes of concentrate production per year.