Comments on: A Visit To Arafura Resources’ Nolans Rare-Earth Project

By: BRUCE

BRUCE — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 03:43:32 +0000

MANY THX FOR THOSE INFORMATIVE ARTICLE TO JACK AND Gareth,
I BELIEVE WE ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK FOR THE RARE EARTH INDUSTRY, AND LEARN TO CHOOSE THE BEST PROJECT FROM YOUR ARTICLE.
BY THE WAY, WOULD YOU MIND TELLING ME MORE ABOUT GRAPHITE, HOW WILL IT WORK IN THE FUTURE, AND WILL IT BE ANOTHER NANO TUBE?

BEST REGARDS,
BRUCE

By: prescient11

prescient11 — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:00:49 +0000

Gareth,

I read with intensity Jack’s latest article on critical metals. His conclusion seems to put dysprosium as the absolute most critical REE in the future. However, he failed to list Quest as a potential critical piece of that supply going forward. I know he made a reference to TMR’s 20 listed advanced projects, but there is far and away no other mine that can match QRM’s anticipated production of Dy. It more than doubles AVL’s estimated annual production.

And I know our commentary with regard to other deposits having more in situ amounts of dysprosium, but when it comes to actual annual production, none of the non-Chinese projects get close to Quest. Just curious about that omission.

Many thanks.

By: Positroll

Positroll — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:56:49 +0000

“So, timelines will vary for the development of flow sheets, and their optimization.” Um, yeah, sure, but Alkane is basically done with that, except for a little tinkering here and there.
So why is Arafura optimistic that counting from today they can not only do the optimisation faster than Alkane did in the past, when they are still at the beginning of the process (from what I read about Alkane’s journey of getting ready for production, a lot of luck was involved in finally finding the right approach – maybe Arafuras lab tests lend themselves to easier upsizing … ?) but also get the permits, financing and build the infrastructure in the same timeframe as Alkane will do ?!?

To me it looks as if either Alkane is overly pessimistic (I’d love that…), or Arafura overly optimistic (unless I misunderstood you and “perhaps 2014” for Arafura does not mean “Q4 2013 or Q1 2014” but rather “maybe 2015” …? ). Oh well, I guess we just have to wait and see …

By: Gareth Hatch

Gareth Hatch — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:31:50 +0000

@Positroll: the flow sheet for Lynas Corp’s Mount Weld project was also developed at ANSTO Minerals (I got a fleeting look at it as we walked through the buildings there).

The resource at Arafura Resources’ Nolans Bore deposit, is distinctly different from that at Alkane Resources’ Dubbo Zirconia Project. The mineralogy and distribution of rare earths, and other materials of interest, are usually unique to a specific deposit. So, timelines will vary for the development of flow sheets, and their optimization.

For the record, Jack and I attended a two-day conference while in Australia, and among a number of attendees, Alkane Resources’ CEO was there. We’ve also met him before at other conferences too.

By: Positroll

Positroll — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:14:03 +0000

Thanks for the detailed report.

” Arafura will be working with ANSTO to scale up the separation processes, and to help prepare products to demonstrate the quality and consistency of processing. ”
Hm, isn’t this what Alkane has done with its pilot plant years ago?
If so: Why then does Arafura think it will be ready for production as soon Alkane (late 2013/ early 2014)? Is their resources mix easier to handle? Is it about size?

@Jack Lifton
I take it you didn’t visit Alkane when Gareth did ( http://www.barnswood.com/tmr/wp/2011/06/a-visit-to-the-dubbo-zirconia-project-demonstration-plant/ ). So where does you positive comment on Alkane come from? Did you recently meet the CEO at a conference? Did you visit their site on another day? If so, anything to add to Gareths report on them?

Disclosure: long Alk.ax

By: Gareth Hatch

Gareth Hatch — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 02:04:52 +0000

@Kris: thanks for the feedback. I’m pretty much open to visiting any of the advanced rare-earth projects that will have us :-)

@Tuck-Nasty & @Cláudio Holanda: thanks!

@Evan: If you really need to compare companies you’re probably better off comparing market caps, not share prices, no? Beyond that, I’m not sure what you’re specifically getting at; there’s more to both of these projects than just their projected start dates…

@Mike S: Thanks – yes, I had wondered about the difference too, other than the price. Never hurts to ask, eh?!

By: Mike S

Mike S — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:51:19 +0000

Thank you – an excellent report. I had been wondering about diamond versus RC drilling and now I know.

By: Evan

Evan — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:52:03 +0000

My question to your two is this…. if a company like this trades at around .71 cents a share and will not be seeing the downstream revenues for almost 3 to 4 years, how is a company like GWMGF trading at .88 cents???

By: Cláudio Holanda

Cláudio Holanda — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:16:38 +0000

Congratulations and thanks a lot for a very nice report and precious information about the search of REE in Australia. For sure all information will be quite important for all involved with REE prospection.

Regards,
Cláudio Holanda

By: Tuck-Nasty

Tuck-Nasty — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:11:26 +0000

Awesome pics of the site.