Geoscience
Australia's estimate of Australia's rare earths reported as REO on 31
December 2012, amounted to 3.19 million tonnes (Mt) of Economic
Demonstrated Resources (EDR), 0.42 Mt Paramarginal and 31.14 Mt in
the Submarginal Resource categories.
Significant
resources of REEs are contained in the monazite component of heavy
mineral sand deposits, which are mined for their ilmenite, rutile,
leucoxene and zircon content. Using available information, Geoscience
Australia estimates that Australia's monazite resources are around
7.8 Mt. Assuming that the REO content of monazite to be about 60%,
the heavy mineral deposits could hold a resource of around 4.68 Mt
contained REO. Currently, extraction of REEs from monazite is not
viable because of the cost associated with the disposal of thorium
and uranium present in the monazite.
Historically,
Australia has exported large quantities of monazite from heavy
mineral sands mined in Western Australia (WA), New South Wales (NSW)
and Queensland (Qld) to be used for the extraction of both REEs and
thorium. Between 1952 and 1995, Australia exported 265 kilotonnes
(kt) of monazite with a real export value of $284 million in 2008
dollars (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2009)5.
Small-scale
production of REEs has taken place in Australia, but records are
incomplete. Zircon Rutile Ltd at Byron Bay, NSW, processed a small
quantity of monazite to produce cerium oxide for use in glass
polishing. In 1969, Rare Earth Corporation of Australia Ltd,
operating at Port Pirie, SA, began producing cerium, lanthanum,
yttrium and thorium compounds from locally produced monazite.
However, the plant ceased operations in mid 1972 because of a lack of
working capital and the difficulty of breaking into world markets for
processed rare earths.
In
January 1987, it was announced that the French chemical company
Rhone-Poulenc proposed to build a two-stage monazite processing plant
at Pinjarra in WA to produce rare earths from monazite, but the
project was suspended. In 1988, Deckhand Pty Ltd, a wholly owned
subsidiary of Currumbin Minerals, was blocked on environmental
grounds from establishing a rare earths processing plant at Lismore,
NSW. SX Holdings Ltd was planning to establish a plant at Port Pirie
in SA to process monazite with a 2000 tonnes per annum (tpa) cracking
and separation plant, but the project did not proceed.
Barrie
(1965) reported that a pegmatite deposit six kilometres east of the
Cooglegong crossing in WA was worked in 1913 and 1930 and yielded
about two tonnes of gadolinite (yttrium iron beryllium silicate
(Ce,La,Nd,Y)2FeBe2Si2O10).
An analysis of Cooglegong gadolinite yielded 45.78% of yttrium
trioxide (Y2O3) and 4.81% of other REO.
According
to Roskill (op. cit.), all the growth in demand between 2005 and 2010
of 11% per year was from China, while growth in the rest of the world
fell by almost 4% per year. The reduction was largely the result of
the global economic downturn in 2009 and a tightening of the Chinese
export quota in 2010, which restricted availability.
The
Mt Weld Central Lanthanide Deposit (CLD) is one of the highest grade
rare earth deposits in the world. Mt Weld also hosts the undeveloped
Duncan (rare earth), Crown (niobium, tantalum, titanium, rare earths,
zirconium) and Swan (phosphate) deposits.
Lynas
processes the CLD ore at the Mt Weld Concentration Plant to produce a
rare earth concentrate that is sent for further processing at the
Lynas Advanced Material Plant (LAMP) near Kuantan, Malaysia.
The
Mount Weld deposit in WA occurs within a lateritic profile developed
over an alkaline carbonatite complex. On 18 January 2012, Lynas
reported Measured, Indicated and Inferred REO resources for the
Central Lanthanide deposit at a cut-off of 2.5% REO of 14.949 Mt at
9.8% REO including YO3. An updated resource for the Duncan Deposit in
the weathered carbonatite complex stands at 8.992 Mt of Measured,
Indicated and Inferred Resources at 4.8% REO including Y2O3.
In another part of the carbonatite complex there are 37.7 Mt of
mostly Inferred Resources grading 1.07% Nb2O5,
total lanthanides at 1.16% and 0.09% Y2O3,
0.3% ZrO2,
0.024% Ta2O5,
7.99% P2O5.
The
company reported in its September 2013 quarterly report that ramp up
of phase 2 concentration plant continued at the Mount Weld
mine site and at the end of the quarter, 18425 tonnes of concentrate
containing 6724tonnes of REO were ready for export to its rare earth
treatment plant, the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in
Malaysia. Lynas reported that, by early June 2013, the plant had
achieved nameplate production capacity (11000tpa REO capacity) in
cracking and leaching units of phase 1 of the LAMP. Total tonnes
produced during the latter half of 2013 amounted to 397 tonnes on an
REO equivalent basis.
Lynas
is the second-largest NdPr producer in the world and the largest
supplier of NdPr to the free market. The production of NdPr was 5,223
tonnes in 2017 compared to 3,896 tonnes in 2016. The total production
of rare earths oxide (REO) in 2017 was 16,003 tonnes up from 12,631
tonnes in 2016.
Nolans
Bore rare earth-phosphate-uranium-thorium deposit is located 135
kilometres northwest of Alice Springs in the NT. In June 2012,
Arafura published a revised total Measured, Indicated and Inferred
Resource figure of 47 Mt grading 2.6% REO, 11% P2O5
and 0.02% U3O8
down to a depth of 215 metres. According to Arafura, the distribution
of the light REEs currently being considered for extraction, (La, Ce,
Pr, and Nd) amount to 95%, while the heavy REEs (Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy)
amount to 4.23%.
Arafura
announced on 9 September 2013 that it had signed a memorandum of
understanding with Shenghe Resources Holding Co.Ltd to jointly fund
development of the Nolans Bore Project and develop rare earth sales
opportunities.
The
company's Dubbo Zirconia Project (DZP) based on the Toongi deposit 30
kilometres south of Dubbo in NSW has a reported Measured Resource of
35.7 Mt and 37.5 Mt of Inferred Resources grading 1.96% ZrO2,
0.04% HfO2,
0.46% Nb2O5,
0.03% Ta2O5,
0.14% Y2O3,
0.745% total REO, 0.014% U3O8,
and 0.0478% Th. On 16 November 2011, Alkane announced a Proved and
Probable Reserve for the deposit of 35.93 Mt grading 1.93% ZrO2,
0.04% HfO2,
0.46% Nb2O5,
0.03% Ta2O5,
0.14% Y2O3,
and 0.74% total REO. In July 2012, Australian Zirconia Limited (AZL),
a wholly owned subsidiary of Alkane Resources Ltd, signed a
memorandum of understanding with Japan's Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd to
produce a suite of separated heavy and light REEs using the rare
earth concentrates from the DZP.
In
October 2012, Alkane announced in its annual report for 2012 that the
company had engaged Credit Suisse (Australia) Limited, Sumitomo
Mitsui Banking Corporation and Petra Capital Pty Limited to provide
investment banking services, including the arrangement of project
financing to fund the development of the DZP. Securing the finance
package of around $1 billion is expected to take up to 12 months and
coincide with final project approvals, allowing the construction
program for the DZP to commence in 2014.
On
15 May 2012 the company reported resources for a new type of placer
deposit, the Charley Creek deposit, containing zircon, monazite and
xenotime. The company reported that the Charley Creek deposit is an
alluvial outwash which comprises an Indicated Resource of 387 Mt
containing 27 000 tonnes of xenotime, 161 000 tonnes of
monazite and 196 000 tonnes of zircon. The xenotime and monazite
were stated to contain about 114 000 tonnes of total REO (TREO). In
addition, another 418 Mt of Inferred Resources was reported to hold
about 121 000 tonnes of REO in about 31 000 tonnes of xenotime and
167 000 tonnes of monazite as well as 220 000 tonnes of zircon13.
An earlier report by Crossland dated 5 April 2012 stated that the
average equivalent monazite in the heavy mineral concentrate (HMC)
(calculated from chemical analyses) is 87 372 grams per tonne (g/t)
and equivalent xenotime is 8310 g/t while the HMC in the alluvium was
2.54%. A scoping study for the deposit was released by the company on
15 April 2013 which highlighted a low capital cost requirement of
$156 million based on a mine life of 20 years and projected an annual
revenue of $154 million. Crosslands reported in its September
quarterly report for 2013
that
a work program for the detailed feasibility drilling at the Charley
Creek Project had been designed. Applications for all regulatory
approvals required for this drilling have been submitted to the
Northern Territory Department of Mines and Energy.
Crossland
Strategic Metals (CUX) listed on the ASX in April,
2007 (name change 16 May 2013). In June 2008, CUX entered a
joint venture agreement (JVA) with Panconoz Ltd (a wholly owner
subsidiary of Pancontinental Uranium Corporation) to explore and
develop the Charley Creek project area. In late 2015, Essential
Mining Resources (EMR) acquired all of these assets from PUC, which
amounts to 43.72% of project. EMR and Crossland merged their
interests in the joint venture into Crossland on 31st May 2017, so
that Crossland once more control 100% of the Charley Creek Project
and surrounding tenements.
The
Hastings rare earth deposit (previously known as Brockman) is located
about 16 kilometers southeast of Halls Creek in WA. It is a
large, low-grade zirconium-niobium-REE (Zr-Nb-REE) deposit hosted in
altered trachytic tuff of Paleoproterozoic age. On 8 September 2011,
Hastings reported 36.2 Mt of Indicated and Inferred Resources grading
8.86 ppm ZrO2, 3.55 ppm Nb2O5, 182 ppm Ta2O5, 110 ppm Ga2O5, 318 ppm
HfO2, 186 ppm Dy2O5, 1120 ppm Y2O3, 2102 ppm TREO and 1802 ppm heavy
REO.
In
July 2013, the company announced the discovery of two new prospects,
the Levon, about 1.3 kilometres south of the main deposit, and
Haig, about 4.5 kilometres to the southwest16.
Nineteen rock chip samples from the Levon prospect averaged 2025 ppm
TREO and 13 rock chip samples from the Haig prospect averaged 2485
ppm TREO.
Hastings
Rare Metals is investigating toll treatment partnerships in ore
milling extraction and separation, and in final product refining. The
company considers that the benefit of taking the above functions
off-shore reduces risks for the Hastings project , by reducing
overall processing operating expenses and by making a significant
reduction in capital cost while being able to access lower cost
funding.
The
Yangibana prospect, about 900 kilometres north of Perth in WA,
has a recorded historic resource of 3.5 Mt at 1.7% REO. The rare
earths are in coarse grained monazite containing up to 20% Nd2O5
and 1600 ppm Eu2O3.
Historic exploration records reported that the Yangibana
ferrocarbonatite-magnetite-rare earth bearing dykes (ironstones) form
part of the Gifford Creek Complex in WA. The dykes occur as lenses
and pods and are typically the last stage of carbonatite
fractionation and are enriched in REEs fluorite and uranium-thorium
mineralisation. On 11 November 2011, Hastings published results from
38 surface samples collected at six prospects located in the western
portion of the Yangibana group. Six
phases of drilling have been completed between May 2014 and June 2017
using both reverse circulation and diamond drilling. Each drilling
programme has increased the JORC resources of the various deposits
and provided samples for metallurgical test work. In
July 2017 a resource of 21
Mt with a TREO of 1.17 was reported
The
company's Cummins Range carbonatite deposit occurs in the southeast
part of the Kimberley region in WA. On 13 February 2012, Kimberley
Rare Earths Ltd announced a revised Inferred Resource for the Cummins
Range deposit of 4.9 Mt at 1.74% REO, 11.2% P2O5,145 ppm U3O8 and
48 ppm Th. The resource was calculated at a cut-off grade of 1% REO.
The total REO was subdivided into 95.6% light REO (La, Ce, Pr, Nd),
4.1% middle REO (Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy) and 0.3% heavy REO (Ho, Er, Tm,
Yb, Lu). A mineralogical investigation of the Cummins Range deposit
by the CSIRO Minerals Down Under Flagship was completed during the
March 2010 quarter with the principal rare earth bearing minerals
being primary apatite and monazite. The investigation also showed
that only subordinate amounts of secondary rare earth bearing
minerals were present.
In
its December 2013 quarterly report, Navigator reported that Anova
Metals Limited (previously Kimberley Rare Earths Limited) has agreed
to terminate the Cummins Range joint venture and transfer Anova's 25%
interest in Cummins Range back to Navigator. The appointed
administrator to Navigator reported in May 2013;
"Following
a price peak in July 2011, light rare earth metals became
oversupplied and prices fell by approximately 70%. As a result,
Kimberley Rare Earths concluded that short-term commercial
development of Cummins Range was not viable and that long-term
development was dependent upon factors outside of their control."
Peralkaline
granitic intrusions of the Narraburra Complex 177 kilometres
northwest of Canberra contain anomalous amounts of zirconium, REO and
low concentrations of thorium (73.2 Mt at 1250 g/t ZrO2,
146 g/t Y2O3,
327 g/t REO, 45g/t HfO2,
126g/t NbO2, 54 g/t Ga2O3,
118 g/t Li2O
and 61 g/t ThO2,
Capital Mining Limited. In the March quarterly report in 2010 Capital
Mining Limited reported that it was conducting metallurgical test to
recover hafnium, Thorium, tantalum, niobium, neodymium and cerium.
On
9 August 2012, GBM announced an Inferred Resource of 187 Mt at 558
ppm TREO and 52 ppm Y2O3
for
the Milo deposit in northwest Qld about 76 kilometres east of
Mount Isa and 22 kilometres east of the Mary Kathleen uranium REO
deposit. The Milo deposit is reported to be a poly-metallic deposit
with a range of metals including REEs, yttrium, copper, molybdenum
and gold. On 22 November 2012 GBM reported that results of a scoping
study suggested a long term base case for a project with a net cash
flow of $701 million over a 11 year mine life.
On
15 October 2013 Northern Minerals announced that its Browns Range
Project about 655 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs in the
NT has Indicated and Inferred Resources totaling 4.13 Mt at
0.68% TREO. These resources are shared between the Area 5, Gambit and
Gambit West deposit while the Wolverine deposit has most of the
Indicated and Inferred Resources totalling 2.14 Mt of ore grading at
0.86% total REO (which includes 4970 ppm Y2O3),
35ppm U3O8,
and 28 ppm ThO2.
The main ore mineral is xenotime which occurs within hydrothermal
silicified and hematitic breccias. The resource has a well defined
high grade (less than 1% total REO) central zone.
A
major proportion of REO (predominantly lanthanum and cerium) of the
Submarginal and Inferred Resources are in the Olympic Dam iron
oxide-copper-gold deposit in SA. A research paper published in 2012
stated that Olympic Dam ore contains20 about
0.17 weight (wt) % La and 0.25 wt % Ce. The REO at Olympic Dam
are not recovered in mining operations and are contained in the
tailings storage facility at the mine site.
Metallica's
scandium resources are located within its lateritic nickel-cobalt
deposits near Greenvale about 190 kilometres west-northwest of
Townsville in north Qld. The company's Kokomo deposit is 50
kilometres north-northeast of Greenvale and the Lucknow deposit is
two kilometres south of Greenvale. On 21 October 2013, Metallica
reported Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resources for the Lucknow
deposit totalling 7.3 Mt grading at 176 g/t Sc, 0.23% Ni and 0.06% Co
delineated at a cut-off-grade of 100 g/t Sc. The company's Measured,
Indicated and Inferred Resource for the Kokomo deposit totals 4.7 Mt
grading 140 g/t Sc, 0.40% Ni and 0.07% Co totalling 112.1 Mt at 0.30%
Ni, 0.06% Co and 162 g/t Sc. The total Sc resource for the two
deposits amounts to 15.1 Mt at 133 g/t Sc, 0.22% Ni, 0.04% Co. The
contained scandium metal in the two deposits amounts to approximately
1950 tonnes.
The
Lucknow deposit includes a high grade zone at a cut-off-grade of 120
g/t Sc measuring 4.12 Mt of Indicated and Inferred Resources at 206
g/t Sc, 0.21% Ni and 0.05%Co.
Metallica announced on 16 October
2012 that a revised scoping study indicated that, under an updated
mine plan, there are sufficient Measured, Indicated and Inferred
Mineral Resources at the SCONI project to allow production of
approximately 90 tpa of scandium oxide over not less than 20 years
based on a processing rate of 750 000 tpa of ore.
In
June 2005, Jervois Mining Ltd reported that its Nyngan lateritic
nickel-cobalt-scandium-platinum deposit in NSW had a resource of 16
Mt at 0.87% Ni and 0.06% Co. A scandium-rich portion of this deposit
was updated in June 2009 as Measured Resources of 2.718 Mt at 274 ppm
Sc and Indicated Resources of 9.294 Mt at 258 ppm Sc. Jervois formed
a joint venture agreement with EMC Metals Corporation of Canada which
conducted a three phased test-work to study the recovery of scandium
from lateritic ores at Nyngan.
In
2013, EMC acquired full ownership of the Nyngan scandium project from
Jervois Mining Ltd with Jervois receiving royalties on sales of
product from the project in lieu of a cash payment. EMC reported on
its website that processing and refining plant details are still
being finalised. Previous pilot plant scale metallurgical test work
during 2011-12 revealed that recoveries of more than 70% were
achievable with conventional processing techniques on laterites,
specifically acid leaching and solvent extraction. Subsequent bench
scale test work in 2013 explored several modified flow sheet
approaches with the results indicating that improved recoveries,
better product grades and lower acid consumption rates were possible,
all of which would point to better economics and environmental
outcomes.
Krucible
Metals Ltd:
Inferred
REE resources for the Korella phosphate-yttrium deposit were reported
to total 13.72 Mt at 0.70k/t Y2O3
and Nd and Dy are also reported to be present, but their resources
have not been estimated (Krucible Metals Ltd, 2013). Anomalous values
of other valuable heavy REEs have also been intersected in drilling
at Korella including one metre at 831 ppm Nd and 336 ppm Sc from a
hole depth of 13 metres and two metres at 294 ppm dysprosium from a
hole depth of 19 metres. Mineralogical investigations have indicated
that yttrium is contained in the phosphate mineral xenotime (YPO4),
generally encapsulated within larger clay-silica-phosphate secondary
minerals.
There
is little published data associated with REEs in phosphorite in
Australia. Total phosphate resources in the Georgina Basin in the NT
and northwest Qld are considered to be of the order of four billion
tonnes (Lottermoser, 1991), but total REE contents in the
phosphorites are generally much less than 1000 ppm.
Chinalco
Yunnan Copper Resources Ltd:
REEs
have been intersected in drill holes at the Elaine1 deposit, about 80
kilometres south of the Mary Kathleen deposit in northwest Qld.
Chinalco has published resources for copper and gold for Elaine1, but
resources of REO have not been released for the deposit. Inferred
Resources have been published for a small deposit near Elaine1
consisting of 83 000 tonnes of ore grading 3236 ppm REO and
283 ppm U3O8.
The historic uranium mine of Mary Kathleen is essentially a
uranium-rare earths skarn deposit which has a remnant resource in
tailings of about 5.5 Mt at 6.4% REO plus yttrium. Commonly occurring
REE minerals in the original deposit were stillwellite and allanite
while other REE-bearing minerals included apatite, titanite and
garnet.
Marathon
Resources Limited:
In
August 2005, the company reported that an Inferred Resource of 51 800
tonnes of lanthanum and cerium is associated with its uranium deposit
at Mount Gee, about 520 kilometres north-northeast of Adelaide in SA.
In July 2011, the South Australian Government established the
Arkaroola Protection Area, reserving the area from operation under
the South Australian Mining Act. It is proposed that, in due course,
legislation will be enacted to protect the area and an application
for World Heritage Listing will follow. As a consequence, future
exploration and mining titles will not be granted in the Arkaroola
Protection Area.
