Unfortunately in NTU case the equivalent of 148 tonnes of Dy that’s in a 52% mixed concentrate does not have the same value as 148 tonnes of seperated Dy oxide.
Suggest you do more research on this topic. Here’s a start.
I also noted that none of the REE juniors seem to understand that the rare earths were technology-enabling-metals, which had to be separated, purified, and sometimes blended to achieve usefulness. In the overwhelming inability of the managers of junior REE ventures to understand basic chemical thermodynamics; they did not comprehend or contemplate that the extraction of the rare earths as a mixture from their minerals gave a product that was NOT the same value as the separated and purified rare earth metals, alloys, and chemical compounds. They completely failed to take in account (or, most likely, understand) the costs and processes needed to transform mixed concentrates of the rare earths and other metallic elements, which were mixed with them in nature, into individual purified rare earth commercial products with the highest value. This led to the adoption of a set of terms commonly used in mining, which were only meaningful when applied to the extraction of the mixed rare earths from their ores and inappropriate in the context of refining the rare earths, and which masked ignorance. I am speaking of the common term,” metallurgy” which should be only used to mean the extraction of the desired element(s) from ore concentrate at economical levels, and the absurd term, “basket price,” which assumes that the mixed concentrate can be priced as if it is already separated and purified into individual rare earths in commercially (customer specified) forms and formats (blends) each and every one of which can be marketed into the infinite demand space in which the marketing plans were located.
As for some future estimates of Dy price doubling by 2020, good luck with that. NTU was spruiking an Argus Metals report begining if 2017 that forecast Dy price would double to $400/Kg by May 2018. Its currently at just under half that price with only 2 months to go.
I find most of the “expert” commentary on forecast HRE prices to be extremely unreliable and mostly driven by those with self interests.
NTU Price at posting:
8.5¢ Sentiment: Sell Disclosure: Not Held
(20min delay)
