The
Mountain Pass mine
is located near the border of the states California and Nevada in the
United States. Geologically, Mountain Pass is a carbonatite deposit
with six different bastnasite minerals of relevance (Molycorp Inc.,
2012). This deposit is a former uranium mine, and produced REE until
August 2015 (Molycorp Inc., 2012). Since then, Molycorp stopped all
activities and shut down the mine due to financial struggles
(Jamasmie, 2015). The proven reserves amount to 156,000 tonnes with
8.45 wt-% TREO and the probable reserves are estimated as 18,267,000
tonnes with 7.48 wt-% TREO (Molycorp Inc., 2012). Mountain Pass
contains 99 wt-% LREE and only 1 wt-% HREE (Molycorp Inc., 2012). In
2014, Mountain Pass produced 4,785 tonnes of REO (Molycorp Inc.,
2015). Bastnaesite (or bastnäsite), a rare earth fluorocarbonate
mineral, was mined as a primary product at Mountain Pass which was
restarted in the first quarter of 2018 after being put on
care-and-maintenance status in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Monazite,
a phosphate mineral also may have been produced as a separated
concentrate or included as an accessory mineral in heavy-mineral
concentrates. The estimated value of rare-earth compounds and metals
imported by the United States in 2018 was $160 million, an increase
from $137 million in 2017. The estimated distribution of rare earths
by end use was as follows: catalysts, 60%; ceramics and glass, 15%;
metallurgical applications and alloys, 10%; polishing, 10%; and
other, 5%.
Rare Element Resources owns the Bear Lodge Project in Wyoming USA, which has key critical
rare earths, as well as an estimated 40+ year mine life. The company
states they have "unique and proprietary RE recovery/processing
technology."Their resource size is 18mt @ 3.05% total rare earth
oxide for 498
m
kgs of contained total rare earth oxide. The latest news from the
Company came on February 12 2019 when the company announced:
"Rare Element Resources reports successful confirmation and
enhancement of its proprietary separation technology."
