Comments on: 6th International Rare Earths Conference

By: Daniel V.

Daniel V. — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 22:38:20 +0000

Thank you Jon, I couldn’t agree with Mr. Lifton more! This was an incredibly fact packed account of the recent conference. I have linked to your article in my post for Monday at metalnewsstream.com. I hope that’s okay. Great Work!

By: Casual Observer

Casual Observer — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 02:35:47 +0000

The most “timely” HREO project is obviously Alkane Resources.

By: Tek

Tek — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 16:36:03 +0000

Jon,
Thanks for a most professional and informative article. I agree with Jack’s comments. There’s a great deal of investor information here as well.

By: robit

robit — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 10:51:44 +0000

Nice to get some visibility on magnetic refrigeration. Does anyone know if the phosphors for Electron Stimulated Luminescenc contain rees?
>>ESL Lighting Technology is an entirely new, energy efficient lighting technology. It uses accelerated electrons to stimulate phosphor to create light, making the surface of the bulb “glow”. ESL technology creates the same light quality as an incandescent but is up to 70% more energy efficient, lasting up to 5 times longer than incandescent and contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. There is no use of the neurotoxin Mercury (Hg) in the lighting process.<<

http://www.vu1corporation.com/

Also, I have found a professor in the UK who has done a lot of r&d involving rare earth glasses. Just Google: Hewak + "rare earth"

The ORC development work on microspheres is particularly interesting.

By: chris

chris — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 03:45:20 +0000

Re Japan,

I think it’s just a matter of time before ucore announces some kind of deal with Japanese companies given their recent talks with the U.S. about supply and Ucore’s recent pr.

” “The Bokan rare earth deposit is characterized by narrow vein hosted mineralization which can be readily extracted using classic narrow vein mining techniques,” said Ken Collison, President of Minecon. “The vein stock works at Bokan are like the branches of an immense tree, with mineable widths and substantial HREE mineralization across the entire system. The mineralization in the Dotson Zone is highly consistent and continuous along strike. Further, the mineralization is visually demarcated from the surrounding country rock, with the opportunity to systematically remove the ore while leaving much of the waste rock in place. The methodology is well proven, and will have a small footprint relative to larger or open pit operations. The potential effect is a highly efficient prospective mining and milling operation, with minimal environmental impact, and a much faster track to design and permitting.”

This pr also answered any quesitons Mr. Phelp raised about Bokan being mineable or not, which I myself thought was funny. But the recent surely answers it and plays right along the theme of what metals going forward will truly be in short supply, not to mention the piece done done here about it will take a small footprint and highly profitable to counter any Chinese dumping/flooding games.

98% Of these LREE deposits are nothing but a momemtum play and won’t be needed. Ucore and another HREE that never gets any attention, Tasman Metals, are what i’d expect to be players going forward.

By: Gordon C

Gordon C — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 02:27:44 +0000

Kris, I can’t figure out Japan’s modus operandi either. What are they doing in Viet Nam and India and seemingly ignoring North America and Europe? Crazy game this investing I think!

By: Kyle M

Kyle M — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 19:00:19 +0000

Thanks very much for posting this up, it’s always informative to hear about what’s happening at these conferences, and you report it in a fair, subjective way.

Thanks again

By: Kris

Kris — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 18:45:20 +0000

Thank you very much Jon. I always like your reports and while I don’t agree with every sell/buy recommendation Byron gives, I think they are very interesting to read.

From your article this part is very interesting: “Yasushi Watanabe from the AIST in Japan discussed Japan’s attempts to find alternative sources of REEs. He showed a very interesting slide with China’s consumption of REEs being 60% of global output, but Japan next at 20% (interestingly, with their dominance of the global LCD industry, Japan consumes 80% of global indium production, a startling statistic). Watanabe also noted that while the quantity of REE exported to Japan from China fell 47% from 2008 to 2009, so did their share of exports. While he believes that LREO can be supplied from new projects, “timely” (as he put it) HREO projects are highly desirable.”

Japan is looking for “timely” HREO projects? I wonder what ‘timely’ means… If those projects are in Canada or US, why not invested in them six months ago when all those TSX ventures were very cheap? Why is Japan mostly looking in Mongalia, Vietnam, Brazil, Kazachstan?

Something doesn’t make sense to me. Or does it? Is it about capex and opex? (Newsletters tell you to invest in political stable countries like Canada and Sweden…)

Black Swan.

Regards,
Kris

By: William

William — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 16:28:31 +0000

Alternatives to using rare earths in the many applications have been going on for a number of years and as yet none have been developed. Even with the rising demand and costs of rare earths these application continue to use rare earths because of their characteristics and efficiencies. It may be decades before these alternatives are developed but in the meantime these application makers will be reliant on a stable rare earth supply to meet their demands and with all the new technologies being developed the supply chain will be put on severe pressure.

By: Bob M

Bob M — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 13:23:42 +0000

Great report! Fills in gaps in what is being reported elsewhere.