Anwesha Sengupta reports that Medallion Resources is pursuing smart production of magnet metals and announced that its recent process testwork extracting a rare earth element (REE) concentrate from monazite sand also produced Trisodium Phosphate (TSP). TSP is a commercial compound, which currently wholesales at approximately $500/tonne and has wide application as a food additive, cleaning agent, lubricant, stain remover and degreaser. “Our extraction process makes available the phosphate component of monazite as we produce a rare earth concentrate rich in the magnet metals,” said Kurt Forrester, PhD, Medallion’s consulting metallurgist. “Phosphate typically makes up about 25% of monazite; therefore the recovery of the phosphate to produce TSP represents a revenue stream beyond REEs while dealing with a significant amount of material. The TSP produced appears to meet commercial specifications while recovering over 97% of the phosphate from the monazite feedstock.”
The Company is also investigating the commercialization of thorium, uranium, and their related daughter products, the radioactive elements that are present in monazite and its process waste streams. Medallion is conducting its process development testwork with provincially owned Saskatchewan Research Council, a recognized authority in uranium and rare earth test processing. The Company is working to ensure safe transport, processing, and disposal of the naturally occurring radioactive elements associated with monazite.
Medallion is pursuing near-term production of REEs in North America, by sourcing and processing monazite sand, which is available as a by-product of heavy-mineral sands mining operations. Monazite, a rare earth phosphate mineral with a history as a commercial REE resource has well-understood metallurgy and contains significant amounts of the key magnet metals neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr). NdPr is in limited supply globally and is the key input material for the high-performance permanent rare earth magnets required for the growing demands of vehicle electrification, wind power generation and robotics. Medallion’s recent bench-level optimization testwork, fed with monazite feedstock from a North American heavy-mineral-sands producer, recovered 84.8% of REEs to produce a high-purity NdPr-rich carbonate concentrate.
Rare earth magnets containing NdPr are used extensively by the automotive industry in the lightweight electric motors that power seat and mirror adjustments, wipers, steering, air conditioning, and braking systems. Modern gasoline or diesel powered vehicles each use approximately 0.7 kg of NdPr, while electric or hybrid vehicles require an extra 1 kg or 140% more NdPr per vehicle in the electric traction motors powering the vehicle. UBS research has recently identified NdPr, along with battery materials lithium and cobalt, as the input commodities most positively affected by growing market demand for electric vehicles. Adamas Intelligence has estimated the value of global annual rare earth oxides for the production of rare earth permanent magnets totaled $1.44 billion in 2016. Adamas’ long-term forecast anticipates an increase in demand for the magnet-oriented, rare earth oxides to $6.07 billion by 2025, representing a compound annual growth rate of 17.4 %.
Medallion Resources is pursuing near-term magnet metal production, firstly in North America, by exploiting by-product monazite. Monazite is a rare earth element (REE) phosphate mineral containing significant amounts of the key magnet metals neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr). Ndpr is the key input material for the high-powered permanent rare earth magnets required for growing demands of vehicle electrification, wind power generation and robotics. Monazite is widely available as a by-product from heavy mineral sand mining operations and has a history as a commercial REE resource and well-understood metallurgy. Medallion is committed to following best practices and accepted international standards in all aspects of mineral transportation, processing and the safe management of waste materials.
More about Medallion can be found at medallionresources.com.
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