I think it’s time to revisit this subject as 2011 could be a boom year for REEs, and there are a few issues that need to be discussed again:

1. Is the idea of a multisourced refinery using different orebodies completely unfeasible? This idea keeps resurfacing and I think we need some accurate assessments from chemical engineers and professionals like you, Jack, C Karayanopolous, or the people running Alkane’s pilot plant.

2. It seems more likely that some companies will develop JV’s with other to construct refining facilities specific to their needs. Who is most likely to partner up: Obviously MCP, but what about others like GWG?

3. Are there new technologies and processes that might significantly change the refining landscape?

4. After observing Toyota Tsusho’s rapid move into the Indian REE mining/refining, just how fast can one of thes plants be constructed, once the metallurgy is done?

5. What construction companies would be most familair with actually building such facilities, in NA, or anywhere else?

I think it’s time to expand our scope of interests into the next phase of actually bringing these companies and facilities online.

If you don’t get paid by the companies listed above then you will turn negative on them to help the ones that pay me.

Mr. Fulp this should be your philosophy:

What’s in for me and will they except my fees to be mentioned by me.

( where’s the edit button here ?? lol )

http://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-has-just-started-ban-of-rare-earth-metal-exports-to-the-us-2010-10

It was clearly said by Maria Bartiroma and then a commercial. LOL

Wow.

Come ON Ucore, say something ! like everyone else has. ( arrrg )

Lets see, they hit Japan with it and demanded electric car tech if you wanna sell there.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91344/7169357.html

” These countries “hide” their own reserves and use low-price rare earth materials imported from China. The purpose is self-evident. Not to mention many countries purchase rare earth elements to stockpile instead of immediate use. ”
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That’s the kinda of stuff that makes me wonder when I read from Mr. Lifton ( who i very much follow) and others comments about china possibly re-flooding the markets.

At this point, wouldn’t it just be a double shot in the foot for’em being they even feel like they don’t have enough reserves for the future for their own consumption alone ?

Basically, i would guess they can’t play chicken with these metals because they don’t have enough of it anymore to allow that.

I think the wheels around the world have already started spinning and if china was to play games, all it would do is really expedite whatever projects/plans that are in progress.

Just a thought.

http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aX4DfAQx7Da4&pos=5

” at the current rate of production “.

I don’t think enough reading has been done on Ucore, comments don’t even scratch Ucore’s activites.

Deep sea access at front door.
Comments on potential shipping costs.
Next to zero radioactive contamination so far.
No indeginous issues.
Mining only district.
Based in the only U.S. state with a 100% mine permit approval.
Local, state, federal support. ( not even Molycorp can say that )
State has pledged no permitting delays for Bokan.
Past USGS grant.
Current USGS support.
Some of the best REE’s guys in world.
N. America’s highest Heavy numbers.
Some of those heavies at Bokan, China’s considering eliminating the export of.

March 1, 2010 :
” We are encouraged by the coarse grain size and liberation of iimoriite, a key REE mineral that has high concentrations of the more valuable heavy rare earths and has relatively simple refining properties. We already have previous metallurgical test reports by the US Bureau of Mines that indicate recoveries of more than 95% yttrium, and results of our new mineralogical studies will be used to develop bench-scale metallurgical investigations to determine the potential recovery of the full suite of light and heavy rare earth minerals and elements.”

September 2, 2010 :
” In addition to the foregoing, the USGS has now sent a team of geoscientists to Bokan for the purpose of advancing the U.S. government’s understanding of the area’s unique Heavy Rare Earth (HREE) mineralogy, believed to be the largest historically documented HREE deposit in the United States. The USGS field work, completed in August, 2010, was conducted under the supervision of USGS resource and geological specialists Bradley van Gosen, Dr. Philip Verplanck, and Richard Grauch. Also in attendance were Dr. Anthony Mariano, an internationally recognized expert in rare earth mineralogy; James Barker, co-author of the USBM study of Bokan originally compiled in 1988; and Dr. Dostal, a recognized expert in ore genesis.

Of particular interest are terbium and dysprosium, which are among the most scarce and valuable metals in the world, and which have been found in anomalously high grades in the Bokan area. “The U.S. government is quite interested in these minerals because they are of military importance,” said Dr. Mariano. China has moved to decrease the export of these essential metals to the U.S. and elsewhere, thereby increasing interest in securing short and long term domestic supplies within the U.S. ”
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Mr. Fulp also says: ” The company apparently is reluctant to commence the next logical step: Permitting, test mining, and bulk sampling during the 2011 field season. I must conclude the sole corporate exit strategy is to sell the project but have doubts that any larger player in the REE sector is seriously interested at this juncture.

So they’re only looking to dump this project? ( LOL )….sounds to me like somneone is looking to short something,,,,but anyway back to the developing OR lack of.

May 10, 2010 :
The two initial target zones addressed by this model, known as the I&L and Dotson Shear Zones, are components of a larger, multi-zone rare earth system at Bokan-Dotson Ridge.

The conceptual model is intended as a partial estimate of prospective rare earth mineralization at the Bokan project for an initial limited exploration area, and specifically does not include surrounding zones located to the north and south of the subject areas, such as the Sunday Lake, Geiger, Geoduck and Cheri zones, or any of the additional zones comprising the Bokan Intrusive Complex. Further, the model spans a combined strike length of 2425 metres over the initial two target zones, and projects to a limited depth of 200 metres below surface, and therefore does not include prospective mineralization located at greater depth, or extraneous to the target zones.

” “This estimate applies to a very limited portion of the overall REE-prospective area at Bokan as established by the USBM, and yet the initial figures already establish the area as one of the most significant heavy rare earth deposits in the United States,” said Jim McKenzie, Ucore’s President and CEO. “Our overriding objective continues to be the proving of the historical USBM estimates for Bokan, and this interim conceptual estimate more than delivers on that objective. The projected grades and tonnage of this conceptual estimate surpass the historical USBM estimates for the same target areas: namely the I&L and Dotson Shear Zones. What’s more, our estimate of 60% HREE content exceeds the original USBM projections of 50%, and highlights Bokan as having one of the highest prospective HREE skews in North America.”

“Our geologists believe that the deposit may be hydrothermal in nature and that the mineralization may persist vertically,” continued McKenzie. “If this is confirmed by additional drilling, the initial 200 metre vertical depth projection is potentially the top of a very deep and continuous heavy rare earth deposit.

It can be picked up from there, and
July 15, 2010 :

” Drill permits have been issued by the U.S. Forest Service. More Core Drilling of Stewart, British Columbia has been retained to provide diamond drilling services on a 24 hour per day basis, with drill activity expected to proceed into September of this year. Additionally, Collison and Associates has been retained for scoping and pre-feasibility work on the prospective heavy rare earth mine at Bokan, as well as the planning of progressive underground exploration.”

“Considered by many to be the nearest heavy rare earth facility to production on U.S. soil, our objective for Bokan will be to transition from the delivery of an NI 43-101 compliant Inferred Resource this year to production pre-feasibility immediately thereafter”, continued McKenzie. “There’s been a strong show of support for expedited rare earth production at Bokan, from both the State of Alaska and at the Senate level in Washington. Thus, the political response to meeting this supply crisis head-on has been very rapid, to say the least, with prospective economic and permitting measures designed to obtain domestic heavy rare earth production within the U.S. as quickly as possible.”

Notice it says ” designed to obtain domestic HEAVY rare earth production within the U.S. as quickly as possible.”
Again, something not even Molycorp can say. Not a knock on Moly as i’d imagine they will qualify for the new loan gurantees, just trying to focus on the heavies of all this being those are what a shortage/possible elimination is what the world is projected to be looking at and not a shortage of the light REE’s, as Molycorp, & others are mainly skewed towards & what China themselves have said to be worried about….the heavies.

So to me, 140M o/s I can live with. Especially when it’s estimated that the $2B dollar REE market controls over $1T in products.

That makes me wonder if over the next few years, will there be an unbelivable upward correction on certian REE’s ?? And that excludes any thoughts of China using REE’s as leverage. But they wouldn’t do that. ( oh nooo )
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In 1989, a U.S. Bureau of Mines study (Barker & Warner, USBM OFR 33-89) estimated that the greater Bokan area contains 37.8 million tons of TREO at an average grade of 0.50%. This historical, non NI 43-101 complaint estimate, equates to 374 million lbs of contained TREO. With an estimated skew toward HREE content estimated at approximately 50% of total rare earths, the area ranks as one of the most prospective and accessible heavy rare earth enriched projects in North America.
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September 3, 2009 :
September 3, 2009 – Halifax, Nova Scotia – Ucore Uranium (TSX-V: UCU) is pleased to report the results of an independent review of a U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) metallurgical study which reported a significant 96% separation and recovery of yttrium from Bokan Mountain (Green and Harbuck;1996). Yttrium can be considered a proxy for the entire “Yttrium Group of Lanthanoids”, otherwise called the heavy rare earth elements (HREE’s).

Ucore engaged the services of Mountain States R&D International of (MSRDI) to review the USBM (currently the USGS) study with respect to NI 43-101 compliance. MSRDI`s Roshan Bapphu, PhD, P.E. AZ examined the USBM study and found the methodologies and conclusions contained therein to satisfy the NI 43-101 standards which came into effect after the USBM study was released in 1996.

” The Green and Harbuck metallurgical study was the culmination of a large scale research project commissioned by the USBM to examine the metallurgy of the Bokan Mountain heavy rare earth elements with a particular view to the recovery of yttrium. ”
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Neat to see the study from way back when would meet todays standards.

Anyway…glta whatever they choose !!

My money says Ucore, Mr. Lifton, Mr. Mariano, USGS, local,state & federal people can’t all be wrong.

Debits are on the left and credits are on the right.