News: Spectrum Rare Earths provides market update

Spectrum Rare Earths (ASX:SPX) is seeking to conserve cash with the company’s directors opting not to take monthly cash fees for serving or helping manage the company.

The fees are instead being accumulated as subordinated loans to the company and must be addressed at the time of the next capital raising.

The company has also closed its Perth office and is relying on expert advisors and consultants to manage its metallurgical and scoping work.

It will entertain the addition of new directors to the company once potential viability of the Skyfall Magnetic End Use Rare Earth project can be established in a scoping study.

At that time, it will look for directors with rare earths experience, a mining background, and someone with project design and management experience.


Skyfall Magnetic End Use Rare Earth

The Skyfall heavy rare earths district is located some 140 kilometres west of Katherine and 350 kilometres south of Darwin, in the Northern Territory.

The company has identified a flat lying, mostly clay hosted rare earth occurrence, 3.5 to 4 metres in thickness, grading between 0.4% and 0.6% total rare earth oxides (TREO).

A key point of interest is the previous estimate that 36% to 38% of these TREO’s are of a magnetic end use variety, the portion of the rare earth elements market still forecast to have growth potential.

In November, test work with regard to floatation concentration and acid bake and leach processing produced an initial mixed RE intermediate concentrate product grading 45% TREO with a 42% MEU rare earth oxide concentration.

This concentrate product can be further upgraded by calcination.

Spectrum has now also enlisted some independent consultant metallurgical experts, with a background in clay hosted rare earths, to further advise Spectrum and assist Nagrom with the most prudent steps with the next phases of testing.

Depending on the results of that metallurgical work, the company hopes then to be in a position to run a bulk sample through a process to obtain a mixed rare earth concentrate sample that can be used to gauge future buyer and/or joint venture interest.

The company has flagged the need to raise capital after the next round of metallurgical testing and scoping work.