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| Rear Earth metal |
Montero Mining and Exploration said Monday it has produced
the first samples of concentrated rare earth chemical grade products from its
Wigu Hill project, Morogoro in Tanzania.
The company said it believes it is one of the first companies to be
able to produce samples of saleable rare earth products, which shows it is
serious about securing an offtake agreement.
"The production of samples of Mixed Rare Earth and Cerium chemical
products for marketing purposes is a major milestone as it will enable Montero
to enter into advance discussions with off-take partners able to assist in the
financing of mine and refinery operations," said president and CEO, Tony
Harwood.
"Advancing the hydro-metallurgical flowsheet established by
Montero and Mintek puts us on track to de-risk the project and is a significant
milestone in achieving early production from the Wigu Hill Project.”
The products produced included a mixed rare earth carbonate, oxalate
and hydroxide and importantly, an individual cerium hydroxide product. The
products were generated from bastnaesite-rich carbonatite material at Wigu
Hill.
The cerium hydroxide was produced using standard chemical separation
processes and Montero said "it may be possible to further upgrade the
product specification for additional sales value add".
The news today gives Montero a viable hydrometallurgical process route
to produce "high value" rare earth chemical products for potential
sale from Wigu Hill.
The “up-front” recovery of cerium from the leach plant solutions is
expected to simplify the down-stream refining process and potentially reduce
the refinery capital and operating costs, the company said. Further
investigation with Mintek into the production of other value-added products is
on-going, the company added, including the extraction of a potentially saleable
strontium chemical product.
Strontium was determined as being of potential economic importance once
it was found that the mineral could be leached into solution during acid leach
testwork done by Mintek, South Africa's national mineral research organization
and the company's research provider.
The samples of the saleable rare earths products were produced as
Montero completed the third phase of hydro-metallurgical testwork by Mintek.
The aim was to consider the design efficiencies of a multiple leach process and
to produce a mixed rare earth product for assessment by potential off-take
partners.
This process design has now been successfully tested on both a
laboratory and bulk scale, Montero said.
The Wigu Hill property was first identified in the 1950s as a high
grade deposit, with a large carbonatite complex measuring 6.4 by 3.2
kilometres. The asset has bastnaesite
mineralization and is considered a "look-a-like" to Molycorp's Mountain Pass project. The rare earth elements at the deposit are hosted in the
mineral bastnaesite found in carbonatite dikes, making it similar to Molycorp's
Mountain Pass deposit in the USA.
Rare earth elements, a group of 15 metals, are critical in the
development of emerging green technologies and high-tech applications, from
electric and hybrid vehicles and wind and hydro power turbines, to LCD screens,
MRI, X-ray machines, mobile devices and other computing equipment.
Source: Montero Mining & Exploration www.monteromining.com reported by Deborah Sterescu
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