A new player in the HREE market.
/ News
Black Sea Metal Inc. Enters Race To Build First Heavy Rare Earths Processing Plant Outside China
22.06.2012 11:58:32
Black Sea Metals Inc. (OTCBB: BLAK) (the “Company”) today announced that it intends to build the first heavy rare earth element (HREE) processing plant outside China as part of the transition of its business plan from the exploration to the processing side of the rare earth market. The approximately $80 million project will be located in the Black Sea region near a proximal source of HREE feedstock.
BLAK’s new management team has been able to secure access to HREE processing technology and relevant industrial intelligence by agreeing to enter into a joint venture with a group of engineers who have already successfully produced HREE oxides on an industrial scale.
With the larger non-Chinese players like Molycorp and Lynas either producing (or near to producing) significant light rare earth oxides for their clients, the focus of production shortfalls has moved from light to heavy REOs and from mining to processing.
'The complexity of the task to produce pure heavy rare earth oxides to highly varying customer specifications will separate the men from the boys,' says Alastair S. Neill, BLAK’s new CEO and internationally acclaimed expert in HREE processing. 'To produce a marketable product you not only need the right sourcing material, permissions and money but also the know-how to handle the process economically. Mistakes can easily cost millions,' added Neill.
Black Sea Metals Inc. is currently formalizing the details of the planned joint venture in a memorandum of understanding. And while the Company does not currently have the funds to complete the project it is actively seeking to raise the necessary funds. The company aims for a start of production in Q4 2014.
It would be much easier for SNEY to ship to Turkey from SL than potentially Lynas in Thailand or Molycorp. The one wrench in the works could be Afghanistan. They are rumored to be sitting on 1 trillion worth of minerals. "In 2010, Pentagon officials and American geologists discovered about $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan." It will be interesting to see if in the next year or two they can get their mining off the ground and if REE's are found in the mineral deposits.
At the rate many are looking to take advantage of China's mess we could see a glut in REE's around 2015 I feel. China will likely react to loosing market share once Lynas and Molycorp really begin to dig into their sales. This could effect margins but than again I still feel the SNEY REE play is over. They took too long and they are more a Gold, Silver and Platinum play. With the massive drop in the value of REE's I just don't see the value in shipping the sands unless these plants run out of other suppliers. This could help simplify the processing and hopefully increase the ROI for SNEY.
JMHO
AI
