IMO, pricing of REE miners in the short term will be mostly determined by time to market. The US Department of Energy has identified 14 critical REES and which suppliers will be able to meet demand before 2015.
In Australia, these suppliers are Lynas, Arafura and Alkane.
GGG and RMR (RAM Resources) may be medium term suppliers, but cannot supply before 2015. RMR may see a SP increase as a result of the 2011 drilling season.
Check the Critical Materials Strategy of the US Department of Energy (Dec 2010)
Fourteen elements and related materials were selected for a criticality assessment within this report (Figure 1-1). Eight of these are rare earth metals, which are valued for their unique magnetic, optical and catalyst properties. The materials are used in clean energy technologies as follows. Lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, cobalt and lithium are used in electric vehicle batteries. Neodymium, praseodymium and dysprosium are used in magnets for electric vehicles and wind turbines. Samarium is also used in magnets. Lanthanum, cerium, europium, terbium and yttrium are used in phosphors for energy-efficient lighting. Indium, gallium and tellurium are used in solar cells. The materials were selected for study based on factors contributing to risk of supply disruption...
Potential production from new mines coming on line before 2015 (include) .......The Mount Weld mine (Lynas, Australia) is currently slated to come on line in 2011. (Ores from the Mount Weld mine will be sent to Malaysia for separation and refining.) The Mountain Pass mine (California) is projected to come on line in late 2012, after setting up new refining and manufacturing facilities at the site. Projected annual production from these two mines is also shown in the figures in sections 7.3?7.6. Additional mines with the potential to come on line before 2015 include Hoidas Lake (Canada), Dubbo Zirconia (Alkane, Australia), Dong Pao (Vietnam), Nolans Bore (Arafura, Australia) and Nechalacho (Canada).
RMR Price at posting:
2.2¢ Sentiment: ST Buy Disclosure: Held
