China is by far the dominant producer of rare earth elements,
accounting for 94 per cent of global production. Significant amounts of
REE are produced in only a few other countries, such as Brazil, India
and Malaysia. More than 70 per cent of light rare earth elements are
supplied from one mine in China: the 56 million tonne Bayan Obo deposit
in Inner Mongolia, which commenced production in 1957 and is the largest
deposit in the world.
In 2010, it produced 55,000 tons of REOs, representing 46 per cent of
Chinese production and 42 per cent globally. Before the Bayan Obo
deposit came on stream, the largest producer was Molycorp's Mountain
Pass deposit in California. However, China started selling rare earths
at such low prices in the early 1990's that the Mountain Pass mines and
others in the world were unable to compete.
Mining at Mountain Pass ceased in 2002 but was recently
re-commissioned and is expected to return to full production in 2012."
However, this scenario might change once the deposits in Chunya start
being exploited. "The rare earth elements were first spotted in Ngualla,
Chunya in 1949.
However, they were not identified as rare earth minerals. Between
1957 and 1961, nobium, one of the elements, was identified. The
exploration was done by Williamson who had discovered diamonds in
Mwadui, Shinyanga some previous years. "They aimed at exploring some
other diamond deposits.
The first report of the possibility of having these rare earth
elements was based on satellite image interpretation in 1989. In 2006,
the Australian company, Peak Resources Limited started the exploration
in Ngualla," Eng Mremi explains. The Australian Proactive Investor's
website reported that,Peak Resources Limited was on track to complete in
early 2014 the key Preliminary Feasibility Study for its wholly-owned
Ngualla Rare Earth Project in Tanzania.
Notably, this would include a revised economic assessment that is
likely to reflect the benefit that rising prices for the key high value
rare earths would have on projected annual revenue. The Pre-Feasibility
Study that was released by the Peak Resources Limited indicates that the
Ngualla rare earth project has ore reserve of 20.7 million tons at 4.54
per cent rare earth oxides.
According to the Managing Director of Peak Resources, Darren
Townsend, "the Ore Reserve is one of the world's largest outside of
China and is also of high quality with over 86 per cent in the highest
JORC Proved category, the company has defined a maiden Ore Reserve of
20.7 million tons at 4.54 per cent rare earth oxides."
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