I am on the way home from Vancouver where I attended and presented at the first Critical Metals Investment Symposium, produced by Cambridge House International Inc. It was time very well spent. The moderators, who also spoke, were John Kaiser and Dr. Michael Berry.
Something is critical if without it, a technology cannot be done, or cannot be done economically or efficiently. When such a definition is applied to the space of all metals, it narrows the list. It allows investors to focus on what’s necessary to the continuation and growth of our technological society, not just on what’s nice.
More important, such winnowing down exposes the fact that there are critical mines as well as critical materials.
For example, for the USA to be self-sufficient in critical rare-earth metals, it will be necessary for the Alaskan Bokan Mountain deposits of Ucore Rare Metals to be developed as quickly as possible, along with either Molycorp’s Mountain Pass mine and/or Rare Element Resources’ Bear Lodge property in Wyoming. Only in this way can the USA become self-sufficient in the critical rare earths in the near term.
Canada has little internal domestic demand for the rare earths, but it has or controls not only more deposits of rare earths than any other country, but also significant operational expertise in processing rare-earth ores to high-purity metals. Canada is now turning to the idea of becoming a supplier to the world of rare-earth metals. This would occur via supply-chain development and perhaps the vertical integration of some existing companies, already doing various aspects of the rare-earth supply chain, not necessarily in Canada but owned and/or operated by Canadian businesses.
Canadian companies furthest along, or already in operation in the rare-earth supply chain, include Avalon Rare Metals, Great Western Minerals Group (GWMG) and Neo Material Technologies. Companies that own rich deposits with good heavy REE values, include Matamec Explorations, Quest Rare Minerals and Stans Energy.
Markets trade on momentum and fads, as well as on fundamentals. Let the herd pass on over the cliff with regard to the general run of REE ventures out there. Stick with the above owners of the critical mines, because your lifestyle and quality of life depend on your doing so. China wants not a piece of the pie, but a whole new supply of baked goods. Natural resources take a long tome to discover and to bring into production. Demand for the REEs is increasing and may well be larger than supply shortly. At the Vancouver conference, a paper read on behalf of Dr. Zhanheng Chen, Academic Director of the Chinese Society for Rare Earths , noted that China may well be a net buyer of rare earths by 2015.
I apologize for not mentioning all of the companies also presenting at the Vancouver conference, but I wanted today to focus on critical mines for rare earths, because I think there isn’t enough awareness of this and there has to be. The REE supply chain has to be geographically diversified. If not, Chinese demand and Chinese control of the processing will simply send all of the newly produced material in North America and elsewhere to China, thus baptizing North America as a third-world raw-materials supplier. Wasn’t that how China started out, by the way?
Don’t send me any mail about Molycorp’s separation plant or Lynas’ processing facility to be built in Malaysia. Those are company-specific operations, and are a good start, but neither company has ever produced high-purity rare-earth metals in the type of commercial quantities required today, nor have they made battery or magnet alloys and compounds, nor made finished goods such as NiMH batteries and rare-earth permanent magnets before. The first consumer-product mass producer, to be vertically integrated in rare-earth-based end-use products, will in all likelihood be Toyota in 2013-14. I still believe that the first vertically integrated producer of rare-earth permanent-magnet alloys and forms, will be GWMG. Exactly like China, I think that GWMG will allocate its internal production of REEs to its own operations, so that it will be able to realize the highest value-added from the rare earths. If and when there’s a surplus, then GWMG will sell into the market. Note that if this happens for China, the “demand exceeds the supply” conspiracy theorists will say it’s a plan. GWMG’s plan is just good business, but, apparently, the same plan followed by China, Inc., will be a plot to control the sector.
In any case some REEs are going to be in more critical short supply than others, if this is not already the case, so some mines will be more critical than others.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, Jack Lifton holds long stock positions in Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSX.V:UCU) and Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. (TSX.V:GWG). Jack also does ongoing paid consulting for Ucore.
Jack, your words and actions are trustworthy, and many shall listen and heed your advice.
Thanks
Dr. Robert Olson
Check out page 72 on the US DOE report. Critical heavy rare earth shortages for the next 15 years. Need all the companies with “heavies” like Great Western, U-Core, Avalon, Alkane up and producing ASAP.
According to the USA Department of Energy in any case scenario there shall be critical Rare Earth shortages for the next 15 years. Particularly critical for Dy Tb Y Nd Eu.
See USA Department of Energy summary and full reports, and Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) video presentation links:
http://www.energy.gov/news/documents/Critical_Materials_Summary.pdf
http://www.energy.gov/news/documents/criticalmaterialsstrategy.pdf
http://csis.org/multimedia/video-rare-earth-elements-keynote
Jack,
Great insights! A good friend of mine was at the conference. He flew down from Alaska. Would you be interested in being on a Rare Earths webinar as a guest speaker with Kevin Kerr of Kerr Commodities and myself in mid February? We can pre-record a segment and/or interview on REEs. Hopefully we can talk soon.
Thanks,
Jason
Jack,
I’m surprised you are not looking at a “rarer earth” – Scandium.
There is a Canadian company (EMC Metals) involved in this.
A perfectly timed and enjoyable Sunday Evening read….
Thanks Jack
Jack
Your comment ” Canada has little internal domestic demand for the rare earths, but it has or controls not only more deposits of rare earths than any other country, but also significant operational expertise in processing rare-earth ores to high-purity metals ” is simply NOT TRUE. You were at the Washington conference where I presented a paper on the Rare Earth Deposits of the former USSR and in that paper I talked about many depots, ONE HREE DEPOSIT ALONE IN RUSSIA IS BIGGER than every deposit in Canada combined exponentially. I also met with institutes last week in Moscow, one that designed the metallurgical flow sheets for 4 REE separation plants and the second institute designed and built them. Next week when I return i will be meeting with the dean of the faculty of REE’s at the major Mining and Metallurgical University so I think it is time for you to give credit to the Russians for being light years ahead of the US or the Chinese when it comes to pioneering the developing the REE industry. As for metals and alloys, the Russians were doing that for 30 years at the KCMP plant and continue to work on REE applications for the 21st century
Robert Mackay
@Robert: Jack’s comment centered on the number of deposits in Canada, not their sizes. As of January 2011, TMR is tracking 160 active, individual rare-earth projects physically located in Canada. Canadian companies (including your own) control numerous other deposits elsewhere.
It would be interesting to know how many individual deposits there are in Russia, and of those, how many are at present being actively developed.
Jack
Thank you for your comments about GWMG.
I’m glad I invested in them when there stock price was 1/4 of what it is today.
Hi Jack,
I am interested in learning from Dr. Zhanheng Chen, Academic Director of the Chinese Society for Rare Earths.
I remember seeing a video of you at Hong Kong meeting, and seeing Dr. Chen in the background? How do I find that video of you and/or Dr. Chen?
Or further, any video of Dr. Chen speaking about rare earth in China would be helpful to us. My partner understands Mandarin Chinese. Any video of Dr. Chen speaking about Rare Earths in either English or Mandarin would be helpful.
Kind regards,
Robert Olson
renderus@gmail.com
Well, we don’t hear much, if anything about REs and strategic/critical metals in Russia – why not? (I’m speaking of the financial/mining press in general, not youse guys, Jack and Gareth – youall do a fantastic job of informing us about the rest of the world) Is anybody in Russia mining and processing REs today? Why aren’t they exporting them? And Robert, instead of YELLING at Jack, why not give us a list of great reasons to invest more in Stans Energy? Are you saying that Stans is diversifying outside of Kazakhstan? That you can safely co-invest with the Russians?
Gareth
We are talking apples and oranges when it comes to the number of deposits in Russia vs Canada. When you have deposits with UNLIMITED HREE reserves and others with hundreds of millions of tons of REE’s you tend to quit looking for the million ton REE’s deposits. I my paper in Washington and Hong Kong we looked at about 50 and over 1/4 would be bigger than any deposit in Canada.
As for the question on how many they are developing I expect you will get your answer in the next year.
Jim
My comments are limited to correcting statements that are incorrect. This is not the place to be promoting my company.If you consider my comments to Jack YELLING this conversation is over.
Jack,
Your insights regarding REEs continue to be extremely helpful, in my opinion. This latest update on your perspective is again most welcome.
One caveat: I’m concerned that the tenuous availability of power in South Africa may delay Great Western enough that it may not be the winner of the contest to be the first vertically integrated producer you predict.
Do you have any thoughts on this issue?
Very sorry to offend, Robert, please forgive – in the email universe I’m used to, all caps is considered YELLING. My bad that I assumed this was the only protocol. I do appreciate your not going PR on everybody, but on the other hand, getting the information out is what we both want. I’d *love* to have access to the paper you refer to – is it public information? I’m very happy to be a Stans shareholder, and impressed with your ability to negotiate disparate cultures.
By the way, the only information I have about Russian REs is as a mineral collector, as the RE crystals from Kola are pretty widely available. Kola Eudialyte isn’t near as pretty as the Mt St Hilaire or even Kipawa Eudialytes, but the diversity of Kola minerals is truly amazing. But the Kola Peninsula isn’t very big, so it wouldn’t take much mining to make mincemeat of the entire Peninsula. On the other hand, Russia is *huge*, so there must be other areas where REs are prominent. Now that I look, I see there are ten Russian locations listed on http://www.mindat.org/show.php?id=560&ld=1#themap for Bastnasite-Ce outside of Murmanskaja. So I guess I can discover a lot from my own “usual” sources, though that doesn’t tell me about the economic situations wrt mining.
arlen gregorio, Your comment quoted below
“One caveat: I’m concerned that the tenuous availability of power in South Africa may delay Great Western enough that it may not be the winner of the contest to be the first vertically integrated producer you predict.
Do you have any thoughts on this issue?”
There is no electrical power supply near the facility but that has been addressed through the use of diesel generators and the use of wind turbines and solar power are also being explored. One has to recognize that this is relatively a very small operation and to produce 2700 tonnes of TREOs a minuscule amount of ore has to be processed, in fact only 6 tonnes of ore for each tonne of TREOs producing an annual income of $189,891,000.
@Robert: An old Russian proverb says, “doveryai, no proveryai” (“trust, but verify…”). Projects without associated public-domain information and data, present some obvious challenges when it comes to their discussion.
I look forward to seeing independently verified reports in the near future, on what sound like some very interesting Russian rare-earth deposits.
does anyone have information regarding Lithium ion batteries versus Nickel metal hydride batteries ( latter require ree) is technology going to by pass same and lithium emerge the winner!
@Peter: there are a number of schools of thought on this, as you probably know. JAck mentioned to me that Byron’s Dr. Jon Hykawy gave a very good presentation on lithium during the Vancouver meeting – we’ll see if we can get an update from Jon, and / or possibly his presentation, for sharing here.
Peter, there’s more information than you’ll ever need at
http://www.theenergyreport.com/ . I’ve read many reviews comparing battery technologies in their newsletters, but I don’t have a specific link on NiMH v. Li. There may be conflicts of interest in many of their reports, but that doesn’t mean the info isn’t good. If you search on “Li NiMH” on that website, it returns three reports, including one by Dr. Hykawy.
Jack and Gareth, thank you very much for sharing very valuable knowledge. It helped me a lot with my DD in 2010 and I’m very grateful for that.
That being said, I’ve commented in the past on this site and RMB that there’s too much focus on developments in North America IMO. Interesting things are happening in Sout Africa, Mongolia, India, Vietnam, Brazil, the former Soviet Union and Australia. Those developments will be game changers to all North American deposits which won’t be available before 2015.
I know many American investors, newsletters and analysts always point out the political risk in certain countries. Let me give you an interesting perspective: Brazil and Russia will host the Olympics and FIFA World Cup in 2014 and 2018. South Africa just hosted the WC in 2010. And also, BRIC just invited South Africa to become a member. Do you really think those countries are political unstable and won’t be very open to FDI in the next ten years?
Kris (disclaimer: very long NEM, GWG, RUU: investing first and foremost in REE knowledge, not deposits)
All the other companies mentioned above I had heard of before, but NOT Ucore. (and I wonder why that is). (why are some great companies such “sleepers” would be the more generic question) Ucore is now trading at .830 and was trading at .205 last June. (just six months ago) Great Western Minerals is instead trading at .740 which is 5 times what it traded at last June. I bought Lynas, Arafura, Quest, Tasman and Commerce Resources (which I later sold) one year ago (I always try to diversify between Australia and Canada) and I am up very nicely on all of them. (and BTW even if Russia had ALL the rare earths in the world I wouldn’t invest there because I simply don’t trust their government and one thing I need to do is sleep well at night) Those companies I bought may not have been the very best companies to buy in terms of deposit size or type of ores, or other strategic considerations but at least I got them in time. Of course Great Western and Ucore may well go up five fold (or even tenfold) from here, but probably NOT over the next six months. I think the name of the game is to get in early on stuff that is pretty good, not get in late on stuff that is excellent when the news is already out widely. (that is, if the “name of the game” is making money and not figuring out which are the best deposits and where and why and etc.) (which is also an interesting game but not the one I am mostly interested in)
And by the way Jack, do you happen to have any latest news on that new graphite company you had so propitiously mentioned in one of your earlier articles? As far as I could find out the IPO has not happened yet and it’s also not clear when it WILL happen. I did some digging around on the web and found out that a company called Industrial Minerals (listed only in the U.S.) (as IDSM) seems to be the company that owns the venture (and the Bisset Creek property) that will have the IPO in Canada. Do you think the deal (the IPO) will be structured in a manner as to be very beneficial to IDSM shareholders or not? If so, buying some IDSM shares may be a good way to get in on the ground floor BEFORE that IPO happens. (by which time the price will already have been kicked way up) I always like to get in on the ground floor and in this case maybe “the basement”
I’m a UK-based Masters student in Earth Sciences, currently researching heavy rare earths. I’ve been particularly interested in the ion-adsorption type deposit of southern China’s Xinxiu granite in Longnan County, Jiangxi province from where most of the world’s HREE suppplies currently come. It has the highest HREE-enrichment so far found in the world (I believe), particularly 3 of the critical ones – dysprosium, terbium, and yttrium. It’s open-pit and has no radioactivity issues, so such a deposit would be relatively cheap and quick to bring to market. It’s claimed to be a unique type of deposit, but I can’t believe its characteristics can’t be found elsewhere in the world. Does anyone know of successful research being done to find this type of deposit elsewhere? I’m thinking particularly of tropical/sub-tropical Africa, but many countries on those latitudes would have potential. Thanks.
Once the importance of flake graphite comes into the spotlight,investors
will scramble
to buy up companies that have a serious deposit.Currently no mines or
production in N.A.
to speak of.Li Ion batteries use ten times the amount of Graphite than
Lithium to produce
batteries which will be used for hybrid and all electric vehicles in the
future.One day
SOON this story will be huge especially due to the fact that China once
again controlls
the world supply of Graphite.FMS Focus Metals Inc is the One choice as the
story is brand new
and comes with a Rare earth story and a Copper Gold story in Quebec
Canada.Heed Jack Liftons
final words “Don’t say I didn’t warn you”
@Robert: I am a small time investor doing due dilligence in REE investment. So with this ‘objective qualification’ I read, “Canada is now turning to the idea of becoming a supplier to the world of rare-earth metals.. some existing companies, already doing various aspects of the rare-earth supply chain, not necessarily in Canada but owned and/or operated by Canadian businesses.. Companies that own rich deposits with good heavy REE values, include.. (your company).” Frank’s report and views (which I am grateful to recieve free) if anything, has given me even more confidence to invest in your firm.
I like your firm due to its geological, technical, finance, and geopolitical expertise in management (all of which separates you from a certain Australian company), and thus possibly the fastest and most reliablle source of REEs to go into production. I believe your deposits that will be verified because of a historical fact. Make REE (quickly) not Cold War (bad pun intended).
Mr Won Paik, could you please specify the name of “a certain Australian company” and the “facts” where your opinion is based on?
Clarity is a fine thing!
who would be the buyer of this GWMG output? where are they and their money now?
It seems that Jack is always down on Lynas and Molycorp. I’ve looked at some of the companies he’s suggested and they seem to be small companies with minimal funding, few employees and none are fully integrated or ever will stand a chance to be if Lyans and Moly reach their full potential. I don’t understand the “beef” against Lynas and Moly, particularly as I recall, about a year ago, Moly was one of Jack’s favorites. I can’t understand why Canadian companies that are underfunded are being touted now. One Canadian company Jack has shares in appears to be paying an Investor Group approximately $360,000 in stock over six months to push the company. As noted in articles, the company is being presented as moving into the lead in REEs when in fact it isn’t or cant. How can a company buy REEs from South Africa at market price and be competitive? Lynas and Moly own their supplies which means they have fixed costs as opposed to thios company buying on a rising market.
Hate to say it Jack, but I think you have a chip on your shoulder.
Jack is a pretty smart cookie-but he is financially invested in U-Core and Great Western. The world will still need the LREE’s and Lynas is first to market outside of China. Stans is an interesting gamble, huh Comrade!
Jim, may I suggest you read the news before making comments like “How can a company buy REEs from South Africa at market price and be competitive?”
GWG announced yesterday they now have a majority stake in RARECO. That’s how. It’s called vertical integration. That has always been the strategy for GWG. And it’s a very smart one IMO. And the market finally seems to realize this.
Kris
Jim and others, please read the USA Department of Energy full 166 pages entitled 2010 Critical Materials Strategy.
http://www.energy.gov/news/documents/criticalmaterialsstrategy.pdf
The USA government confirms that there are only 7 companies outside of China, that are likely to be REE suppliers by 2015. They are Molycorp, Lynas, Arafura, Avalon, Great Western, Alkane and “Dong Pao” Vietnam (see page 72).
The USA report says there will be critical REE shortages for the next 15 years, particularly in the HREE specifically including Y Dy Nd Eu and Tb. This critical shortage is not alleviated by the successful operation of all 7 of these REE companies.
Investors need to focus on those companies with a preponderance of “heavies” if the identified critical REEs are going to be alleviated.
And what’s wrong with Jack investing in the REE companies? Jack, keep telling us the truth. I want to know which companies have the capability to fill critical needs. As investors we need to do our part.
My cautionary word: If the “free world” does not invest in each and every company Jack has identified in his newsletter, the Chinese rare earth monopolists will. Just ask Molycorp, Lynas, and Northern Uranium all Chinese takeover targets previously.
The following is from GWMG 2nd Qtr Financial Report for June 30, 2010. (Note that the 3rd Qtr Report has not been posted.)
For the quarter ended June 30, 2010, the Company (GWMG) reported an after-tax loss of $1,501,730, an accumulated deficit of $26,902,785, and working capital of $5,571,606. As at quarter end, the Company has not generated positive cash flow from operations.
Assuming this is the only info to work with as the 3rd Qtr financials have not been released, where is the money to finance the activities in South Africa? This company is short of funds it appears.
http://www.focusmetals.ca/
I do not understand this animosity towards Jack.
As a complete newbie, I did all my own DD two years ago after reading only a couple articles by Mr. Lifton, about the coming REE markets. And I made my small investment decisions on publically available information. As yet have not changed any of those initial investments, and it so happens that they turned out to be exactly the ones mentioned above, for exactly the same reasons . He did not at that time make any suggestions whatsoever about which companies to invest in. Since that time, Mr. Lifton has been more accurately informative and predictive than any analyst in the field, bar none. Insofar as the development and structure of the markets and companies involved, he has a flawless record.
If you are not happy with the investments you have made, it’s most likely because YOU don’t know Jack.
GWG, QRM, UCU, AVL
it’s premature to judge anyone’s calls in this horse race. as peter grandich says often concerning junior mining investing–” … it’s gambling..”
we are far from the stretch run.
‘
However Fran, anyone who bets the ponies knows about odds-on favorites based on past performances. Jack’s got a pretty good track record.
http://www.focusmetals.ca/
85 % profit out 100 million dollars would be a lot of profit…let say we keep 50% of that in the deal…that would be 42,5 millions profit for focus, divided by 70 millions shares (I assume another round of financing)…0,61$ a share…:
0,61$ a share …let assume a P/E of 10 and we get a price share of 6,10$…P/E could be higher considering the interest for the sector…a P/E of 15 would give you a share price of 9$…
if graphite price double, then everything goes up even more…
And we haven’t calculated the value that the Kwyjibo property could bring in…REE deposit and maybe a copper deposit
It all depends on the deal…maybe our portion of the revenue and profit are smaller but still, share price have a lot of room to go…
Interesting months ahead…
GLTA
Focus Metals
1) Technology grade graphite is 99.9%. The lower the grade you start out with requires much more
expensive processing and in that process destroys the larger flakes which get the highest price.
2) Chinese mines could flood the world with 2-3% graphite but they want technology grade. FMS mine has 17%
graphite (he says maybe the world’s highest). After the Chinese toured the FMS site they offered to buy it outright but were turned down.
3) mine won’t produce for 3 years but will generate 100million a year (at today’s prices) WITH AN AMAZING 85% profit margin.
4) placement will happen soon AT MARKET price. Big brother JV to take mine across finish line should follow soon after.
In answer to my own posting # 9 above:
Personally I choose to follow the advice of people I trust.
Like Jack Lifton.
Like Zhang Anwen a leading Chinese government advisor and Deputy Secretary General of Inner Mongolia Rare Earth Guild who in Beijing conference Spring 2010 said:
“Foreign countries should calmly and logically think about this and develop their own mines for their own needs. Our (China) resources are diminishing and we (China) need these minerals for our own use.”
(Minutes 2:46 to 3:20 in the 6:19 minute video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHs2lGsqFKU&p=19D44B68A08E1850
Dear Sir,
Greetings to you, I’m Prince Nana contacting you on behalf of my community
(Takwadum community of Accra – Ghana , West African Region). The Takwadum
community is into mining locally due to the abundant of mineral resources
in our land as permitted by law. In doing so, our community has some quantity
of 22 karat GOLD DUST/ALLUVIAL. Being the CHIEF OF-STAFF of the Palace, and
the SECRETARY to the King, he empowered me to carry out this function as the
only senior lawyer of the soil . in view of this I seek your interest as our
CUSTOMER / BUYER of our commodities (Gold Dust/Bar). Our prices are good and
negotiable based on the quantity purchased. You are free to come to Ghana,
West Africa and visit the mining sites before buying. Kindly get back to me
via email if you are interested to buy.
Prince Nana,
Consultant For the
Takwadum community, Accra Ghana.
Tel:+233-240-185-204.
@Prince Nana…ok, I think probably not thanks!
Hi, Ive been a long term investor in natural resources & commodities, but a newbie to REE investing..I have found all of the earlier comments extremely interesting and informative. I am based in Dubai and have particular interest in Afghanistan. Does anybody here have any particular thoughts on strategic minerals & REE potential in Afghanistan (security issues aside), eg uranium, lithium, etc.
many thanks gary
I am dissappointed with the little mention of some of the other up and coming REE exploration companies in Canada. Is the newly discovered Rocky Mountain Rare Metal belt in British Columbia not worth considering ? A private company known as Spectrum mining has drilled some very impressive numbers and is being professed as a world class deposit and the 3rd best REE project in North America. Early in the game I realize, but right next door a publicly traded company called Canadian International Minerals CIN has drilled and is awaiting assays. The cores exhibited abundant visual REE`s and word is this will be an astounding discovery. Assays should start being released the first week of February. With an incredible new greenfield district emerging in a safe juristiction like Canada should these new up and comers not participate in the frenzy. I realize that the first to production will reap the biggest reward however demand will continue to increase and the smaller companies a little further down the line should see considerable appreciation in their value.
@Kris & @Steve: with over 275 active rare-earth projects outside of China, Russia and India out there as of January 2011, one has to develop one’s own criteria for “narrowing” the field, whether that’s geographic, stage of development, quality of the management team or whatever you ultimately decide is important. Narrowing the field by definition means that some projects and their owners are going to be excluded. It is what it is.
My own primary interest in this sector, is in the role that it plays in supporting the overall technology supply chain. The performance of individual project owners and their stock is secondary. The success of the technology supply chain simply requires that a minimum number of projects are successful, regardless of who ultimately owns them, and without needing any specific companies to be successful. This is quite different from the perspective of traders and investors, who want and need certain companies to succeed (i.e. the ones they’ve invested in!), regardless of whether or not such companies have a decent project, or if the projects that they do have, benefit the supply chain.
One would think that these strategic and shareholding imperatives would coincide (i.e. what’s good for one, should be good for the other), and I’m sure that they do much of the time – but not always.
Well said Gareth, I suppose that whoever dilineates the best deposits with the best recoverabliity rate will benfit from deep pocketed JV partners to make their projects viable. The key is just how easy it is to extract these elements from the matrix, my understanding is that the Wicheeda host rock can be easily seperated with minimal enviromental impact. If in fact a world class REE discovery evolves in central British Columbia ( and many think it will ) I would hope the provincial government acts quickly and decisively to “Get in the Game” and fast track such projects to feasability and production. If not a large opportunity will be missed, delays will be crucial as the race is on.
Steve,
I agree with Gareth, and I would like to point out that the situation within China is exactly the situation that Gareth points to as a sort of “ideal.”
China has an industrial policy which, in the case of the rare earths, is that the Chinese industrial sector will be encouraged, directed, and, perhaps, subsidized to add as much value as it can to any domestically produced raw materials before they enter the domestic consumer or foreign export market place.This is not a guideline; it is a hard and fast rule in China. Job creation and domestic wealth creation trump any consideration of personal or corporate profit and competitive advantage is not to be bought ever by job loss. Therefore the lowest cost producer of the raw materials and the lowest cost refiners will win the supply contracts from the end-users. I personally have no doubt that the present restructuring and governmental remediation costs in the rare earth mining/refining industry in China are being 100% subsidized into the budgest of the provinces and regions involved or into the budgets of the state-owned enterprises now being given this assignment. Thus at the end of the restructuring Chinese domestic costs of producing high volumes of rare earths will be less than they are today since the mines will not have to absorb these costs.
The world is now awash in rare earth deposits, but the costs of developing them cannot be established prior to the proof of an economic metallurgy. Infrastructure availability and/or the cost of providing it can be measured easily; surface or underground mining costs can be accurately estimated; and mechanical ore concentration is a well understood process. However although the cost of the cracking of rare earth ores (the extraction of the metal values as salts) can be inexpensively determined the separation of the contained rare earths obtained therefrom from all other metals and from each other must be modeled and run in a pilot plant before accurate costs can be established. There is not enough expertise in such chemical engineering available to meet the needs of 275 projects in a timely fashion, so the selection operator is “who has the money to pay for the study and the pilot plant” knowing full well that the result may be that the process being tested is not economical.
I am trying to say that it really doesn’t matter if a deposit “looks like’ something that has been done before or is an unusually high grade. The test is in the staying power the investors have in a long process which is not assured of success, but is assured of generating enormous costs before any revenues are generated.
For the light rare earths I’d bet on Bayanobo, Mt Weld, and Mountain Pass as the world’s suppliers.
For the heavy rare earths the race is on.
And, by the way, the race is on to develop new sources for all of the scarce and critical metals worldwide.
Thankyou for weighing in Jack, seems like a very complex issue. I agree that in the rush to ensure supply independent from China that vertical integration will be the business model best suited for the end users. In that large multi national companies will infact simply either buy-out or JV with the mining companies that have the deposits that are the richest and the most enviromentally friendly to extract. I agree it seems every day you hear about another green field discovery, yes the majority of rare earths are not that rare after all but to find an economically viable deposit that is allready situated close to infrastructure is infact quite rare. The start up costs are enormous for these things requiring massive investor input and patience. So I agree that alot of these projects, as good as they may be will simply be moth balled until needed….which may be never. People need to realize that technology is advancing on all fronts at rate of speed never seen before, and there is no end in sight. What is rare today could very well be common place tomorrow. What is desperately needed today could be replaced by a much more abundant cheaper substitute tomorrow. Pretty tough field to navigate, as allways the investors that do their own DD and are comfortable with their risk exposure will prosper. After much DD, I believe the Carbo district in the Rocky Mountain Rare Element belt in British Columbia will be recognized as a world class asset, much like the belied oil sands of Alberta. A needed national resource, maybe not so much for domestic consumption but most definetly as a key export commodity. It will be catastrophic to see the government fumble the ball on this one, not that I suggest government intervention…we all know that the government makes a lousy business partner…but definetly support through various initiatives to fast track an important economic development. You are right….The race is on. I think most Canadians would like to see Canada participate in that race.
what of the alleged german[EU] involvement with K- STAN covered in RMB.COM this day?
Fran,
I haven’t read the report on the RMB, but I did see the original news article. As I understand the news article it says that the German equivalent of our National Association of Manufacturers, which in Germany is their BDI, is asking its membership to support some BDI contacts with Kazakh Mining companies to secure long term supplies of the rare earths for German, not EU, industry.
I have direct personal knowledge of the fact that our NAM has just last week begun to ask for expert opinion about the same thing, the security of supply of the rare earths for American industry. The NAM asked a specialist consultant who know to come in and tell them why rare earths are important. Its a good first step and its about time.
Neither America or Germany has an industrial policy, so that the survival of their economies depends on individual initiative. China has an industrial policy, and we are seeing how well it works for protecting China’s industry from losing its security of the supply of the rare earths.
Other critical metals and materials for industry such as graphite, tungsten, and antimony are already on China’s radar. No beeps yet from our radar sets over here though.
mr. lifton, thank you for your patience in repeating “the message” once again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YbS-YyvCl4
Focus Metals Inc.
Monsterous asian firms have already taken a good long hard look at the sexy
graphite deposit.Most likely
have tried to buy it from Focus at a very decent price however, looking
forward into the future, this thing
is worth 15 times what they were willing to offer.Now the Americans have
stepped into the picture because they
too understand the importance of securing future supply.Bottom line, GAME ON
and we have only just begun.
There is a very simple reason this company is heading higher.EXTREMELY
undervalued here.
Compare this company to some of the more quality rare earth plays and FMS
should be about
8 dollars a share.Now look at the trifecta,REE,Massive graphite deposit and
a potential
massive copper deposit.this company could be north of 30 dollars by the end
of the year.
Why is it only just over a dollar, simple, brand new and the word is just
getting out.The
realization is there and the BIG BIG hitters are just getting in because
they understand
the value down the road here.Why then is it not at least 4 or 5 dollars
now.Cause the big
guys are not stupid. If you could collect 5 million shares of a company
below 2 dollars
which equates to 10 million dollars worth of stock and have the opportunity
to make 10 to 20
times that amount you would do the same.This baby is just getting
started.GLTA
FMS
There is a very simple reason this company is heading higher.EXTREMELY
undervalued here.
Compare this company to some of the more quality rare earth plays and FMS
should be about
8 dollars a share.Now look at the trifecta,REE,Massive graphite deposit and
a potential
massive copper deposit.this company could be north of 30 dollars by the end
of the year.
Why is it only just over a dollar, simple, brand new and the word is just
getting out.The
realization is there and the BIG BIG hitters are just getting in because
they understand
the value down the road here.Why then is it not at least 4 or 5 dollars
now.Cause the big
guys are not stupid. If you could collect 5 million shares of a company
below 2 dollars
which equates to 10 million dollars worth of stock and have the opportunity
to make 10 to 20
times that amount you would do the same.This baby is just getting
started.GLTA
Focus Metals Inc.
My calculation on just the FLAKE part of this world class graphite deposit
comes to about $42 + per share.
Not taking inflation into consideration.Of cousre further dilution for
financing and mining costs as well
as a 40 year project in hand would conservativly make this company in my
opinion worth at least $12 per share
if a company was to buy this in todays dollars.This does not include
Kwibjiyo’s REE and potential massive
copper deposit at all.Shorts beware !!!!
GLTA
Focus Metals Inc.
Searching for a needle in a haystack is like finding a company that has this
kind of potential
for its shareholders.Focus Metals is in the infancy stage with WORLD CLASS
written all over it.
This company has not yet begun to play catch up with some of the other
shining REE plays out there.
Coupled with the best Copper/Gold property in Quebec which has outstanding
potential and will be
explored very soon, only one word comes to mind.KABOOM.Then of course there
is that other thing,um,
oh,ah,the WORLD CLASS DEPOSIT of FLAKE GRAPHITE which will be unvieled very
soon with a resource calculation.
The demand for this substance alone will take this company to the moon and
back.In my opinion,some very smart
and powerful people are lining up to take a major stake in this incredible
story.HOLD ON TIGHT and GLTA.
Focus Metals Inc.
Mr. Gary Economo, President and CEO of Focus Metals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: FMS) (“Focus” or the “Corporation”), is pleased to announce its intention to form a U.S.-Canada-Asia joint venture to develop, patents and secure global rights for applications of graphene technologies.
The new enterprise, to be based in New York City, will be a joint venture between Focus Metals Inc. and its U.S., Canadian and Asian partners. “Focus is bound by a non-disclosure agreement while it negotiates and settles the terms of the joint venture with its joint venture partners.”
So boys and girls – any guesses as to who the joint venture partners might be?
U.S. = ?
Thining big! Very interesting read!
http://bigthink.com/ideas/24381
Electric vehicles
President Obama has set a goal for America to have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. China, on the other hand, has set a target to put one million electric cars on its roads annually by 2015.
The discrepancy in the two targets highlights the growing division between the two countries’ cleantech development. In the competition to dominate the emerging low-carbon economy, China is swiftly gaining the upper-hand on the United States.
According to The Guardian newspaper, China’s new plan to make “new energy” vehicles — hybrid and electric — a national priority will soon be published.
The country’s grandiose new energy transportation goals include investing 100 billion yuan (US$15.2 billion) in electric and hybrid vehicles over the next ten years in order for them to secure a larger fraction of the 100 million vehicles it plans to manufacture annually by 2020. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the country produced over 18 million automobiles in 2010.
Mr. Gary Economo, President and CEO of Focus Metals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: FMS) (“Focus” or the “Corporation”), is pleased to announce its intention to form a U.S.-Canada-Asia joint venture to develop, patents and secure global rights for applications of graphene technologies.
The new enterprise, to be based in New York City, will be a joint venture between Focus Metals Inc. and its U.S., Canadian and Asian partners. “Focus is bound by a non-disclosure agreement while it negotiates and settles the terms of the joint venture with its joint venture partners.”
Mr. Economo also announced the appointment of Dr. Gordon Chiu who will act as the new venture’s Chief Scientist and Managing Director. Dr. Chiu will be responsible for building the new company’s portfolio of graphene-based applications, with a particular interest in the development and acquisition of aviation and defence applications.
Dr. Chiu has 15 years combined experience in biomedical, chemical, cosmetic, medical and technology industries. He worked as a research scientist with Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co., and has a distinguished profile in U.S. markets.
“This is a significant development for Focus Metals Inc.,” Mr. Economo said. “Our global joint venture fits squarely and perfectly with our corporate vision to build commercial value from our graphite processing foundation.
“The world of scientific research is currently dominated by the development of graphene applications – from electron-microscopic imaging for medical diagnostics, to stealth military applications to nanotechnology-based supercomputers,” Mr. Economo added.
“We see no end to the future of graphene development, and, given our company’s source, see a long-term benefit by moving now to capturing ownership of patent values,” Mr. Economo said.
Graphene is a carbon allotrope extracted from graphite. Its superconductive electrical features and super strength are expected to spawn a revolution in new technologies based on a panoply of chemically and naturally-induced by-products.
Focus Metals Inc. owns one of the world’s highest quality, highest concentrations (17%) natural flake graphite at its Lac Knife, Quebec, property.
Dr. Chiu comments, “Graphene is a form of carbon. As a material it is completely novel – not only is graphene the thinnest material known in science but it is also the strongest. As a conductor of heat, graphene outperforms all currently known materials. It is nearly transparent yet so dense that not even helium, the smallest gas atom, can pass through it. For the layperson, while diamonds are a coveted jewellery allotrope of carbon, graphene is very much the game-changing allotrope of carbon achieving recent accolades such as the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. As a combination, it is potentially more applicable than copper because when graphene is mixed into plastics, the resultant material turns into a conductor of electricity while being more heat resistant and mechanically robust.”
“It is a tremendous opportunity and honour to be establishing strategic domestic and international relationships for a company with such a prized asset. I look forward to working with Focus Metals Inc. and Mr. Economo.” states Dr. Chiu.
The European Union considers graphite a critical/strategic mineral. China controls more than 70% of the current global supply of industrial graphite and is a net importer of technology-grade natural flake graphite.
The U.S. commercial technology sector and some government officials are concerned about China’s dominance over graphite production. U.S. lawmakers have some concern about graphite’s future supply chain, price, and the potential implications for national and industrial security of supply.
Profile
Focus Metals Inc. is an emerging mid-tier junior mining exploration company with excellent discovery stage base metals and industrial minerals opportunities in Quebec. A determined management team with extensive mining business experience lead the Corporation.
This News Release may contain or refer to “forward-looking statements” which reflect Management’s expectations regarding the Company’s future growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities. These statements reflect Management’s current beliefs at the time of this news release and are based on information currently available to Management. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization and reserves, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of the Company, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Management’s expectations are exploration risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. While the Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause its views to change, it specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts: Focus Metals Inc. Gary Economo President and Chief Executive Officer 613-691-1091 Ext.101 gary@focusmetals.ca
My Fellow Investors…The Future is Here!
Pay attention. Reason for a correction in the overall markets will plain and simply be due to an oil price surge back to 150 dollars a barrel or more. We cannot and will not be held hostage with the continuance of dependance on oil for our future energy demands.
The move towards green energy technology coupled with the vast amount of technological advances we are now realizing in this space will be unprecedented. Where will the governments be focusing ALL of thier attention. Li-Ion/Graphite batteries and Rare Earth Elements. This will be a complete and utter overhaul of the system as we know it. Ballard Power was way too early with thier fuel cell technology, however, Focus Metals is poised to take its rightful place with an additional thousand other future applications. There will not be enough to go around and prices will supercede any and all expectations. Hang tight for you are staring at the future.
GLTA
From Natural resource Canada:
http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/smm-mms/busi-indu/cmy-amc/content/2007/29.pdf
«Another graphite potential exists in the province. It concerns the Lake Knife flake graphite deposit, which is up
for sale and contains 8.1 Mt of 16.7% graphite. In 2006,
Iamgold Corp. of Toronto, Ontario, inherited this deposit
from Cambior Inc. of Longueuil, Quebec, which in turn
had inherited it in 2003 from the merger with Sequoia
Minerals Inc. of Québec City, Quebec (which in turn was a
spin-off of Mazarin Inc.’s industrial minerals business into
a new company). Iamgold is a gold producer and the graphite deposit no longer fits into its product portfolio»
Iamgold sold this deposit to Focus metals this summer for approximately 4-5 millions of shares of focus metals. Iamgold is a large shareholder of Focus.
Mazarin was the original co that discover the deposit in the 80’s. The city of Fermont at mandated Mazarin to look for other mineral resource than iron which prices were quite depress in the early 80’s.
Régis Labeaume, the actual mayor of Quebec city, was the President of Mazarin at the time.
FOCUS METALS TO FORM JOINT VENTURE TO DEVELOP GRAPHENE TECHNOLOGIES
3/2/2011 5:14:10 PM – Market Wire
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, Mar 02, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX News Network) —
Mr. Gary Economo, President and CEO of Focus Metals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: FMS)(“Focus” or the “Corporation”) is pleased to be able to provide the following additional information regarding its planned joint venture to develop and exploit graphene applications announced in the press release issued on February 23, 2011.
The Joint Venture (the “JV”) will be comprised of Focus (40%), a company controlled by Dr. Gordon Chiu (10%), a private Korean company (10%) and a private Hong Kong company (40%) (collectively, the “JV Partners”). As a start-up, the JV will initially have no assets. The JV Partners will fund the JV’s operations based upon their pro-rata interests in the JV. The operational and other details of the JV have yet to be finalized; however, Focus believes the first-year budget for the JV will be approximately $300,000. All intellectual property derived from the JV’s operations will be held in the JV.
Dr. Gordon Chiu will act as the JV’s Chief Scientist and Managing Director. As announced in the Prior Release, Dr. Chiu will be responsible for building the JV’s portfolio of graphene intellectual property, with an emphasis on graphene technologies for aviation and defence applications.
The JV will conduct research into graphene applications and work with universities and other private and public research facilities to identify graphene applications with commercial potential. Once identified, the JV intends to license the intellectual property rights to such graphene applications and then work to commercialize such applications through license arrangements with industry.
Graphene is a carbon allotrope extracted from graphite. Its superconductive electrical features and super strength are expected to spawn a revolution in new technologies based on a panoply of chemically and naturally-induced by-products.
With what Focus believes to be one of the highest quality, highest concentrations (17%) natural flake graphine properties in the world located at its Lac Knife, Quebec property, the JV fits squarely into its strategic plan.
Profile
Focus Metals Inc. is an emerging mid-tier junior mining exploration company with excellent discovery stage base metals and industrial minerals opportunities in Quebec. A determined management team with extensive mining business experience lead the Corporation.
This News Release may contain or refer to “forward-looking statements” which reflect Management’s expectations regarding the Company’s future growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities. These statements reflect Management’s current beliefs at the time of this news release and are based on information currently available to Management. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization and reserves, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of the Company, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Management’s expectations are exploration risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. While the Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause its views to change, it specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts: Focus Metals Inc. Gary Economo President and Chief Executive Officer 613-691-1091 Ext.101 gary@focusmetals.ca
SOURCE: Focus Metals Inc.
mailto:gary@focusmetals.ca
Copyright 2011 Marketwire, Inc., All rights reserved.
Focus Metals Inc.
Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Apple, IBM, Yahoo, Google, Boeing, Lockheed
Martin etc. Just to name a few. Have you every wondered how these outstanding companies became world class leaders in their craft. They all started with exceptional business models.Grow your niche products and ideas and continue to capatalize and gain market share. Simple,however they all started from the beginning with a strong business plan along with the most intelligent people on thier boards. Coupled with very strong strategic partners that believe in your future.This my friends is how all of the above became incredibly succesful. Focus Metals is doing all of this and more and is about to take its rightful place amongst them all. I could go on and on although I believe my point is already well taken.
GLTA
Dear Sir,
We are a group, of Local Mining Communities, and we are also Holder of
Precious Metal Export Company,
Seyagold local miner are Precious metal exporters, and they are also seller
of local gold dust product from different mining villages, communities
miners, private miners and joint local sellers representatives.
We have legal license for export & import in Republic of Mali.
We are ready to establish a long term business agreement with your company &
Buyers.
Specifications and quantity Product:
A) COMMODITY: Aurum Utalium (AU).
B) FORM: Gold dust
C) PURITY: 94% plus
D) FINENESS: 22+ Karat or plus.
E) ASSAY: To be determined by buyer’s chose Refinery.
F) ORIGIN: Mali
G) QUANTITY: 175 – KG available in stock
H) Price: $34.000 usd per KG (Negotiable)
F). Rue 689 Porte 1023 Hippodruom Bko Mali.
Our commodity goes high every day, due to our local miners has the capacity
delivering between 2 – 5 kg every day depend on the climate or Man power
production,
I wait for your reply, with you full company information, so that, I will
draft our sale offer to you to study and sign.
E-mail. seyagold21@gmail.com
Skype.mohamadi999.
Thanks & Best Regard
Mr.Amin Toure.
Applaud some of the newsletter,
I am still in deep concern of why Russia doesn’t compete in this venue. I believe they have the resources to out do Canada by a long shot an question why the hold up in investment to get at it? Am I disillusioned on this or what?
Dr. Gomez,
Russia and Canada are fundamentally different societies. Russia is a thugocracy/kleptocracy. Canada is in many ways more democratic than the USA. The Russians only produce resources that they can sell abroad for the benefit of the 0.01%. The Russian economy is tightly controlled by Moscow. Investing in anything based on Russian “assets” is simply an exercise in futility. Russian mining and processing technology by the way is not very good or efficient.
Jack
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