Shipping costs won't be a significant factor in any case. It might come to $100 or $150/ton, which is pennies on a per-pound basis.
And I think you're right - this will be sold FOB at the mine, which means shipping is no concern of ours (and also, that's one less thing we'd have to worry about as well - shipping stuff is always a pain in the arse).
I do agree that the shipping costs will be lower from Canada - there's just more ships available on liner runs from North America to Asia than from South America to Asia. Much more competitive, and greater frequencies of sailings.
Like I said earlier, they will possibly even just have the freight rate quoted on a "door-to-door" basis, and it'll probably end up going by rail to Vancouver, then on a container ship to Asia from there. Or maybe it gets sold domestically, in which case all this is moot.
Given the connections we have with China through our geologist, though, combined with their recent appetite for mineral wealth (see the Chinese buy-in to Lynas Resources), it wouldn't surprise me if we ended up with an off-take agreement with them. Short-sighted by USA industry, because this stuff is not readily available (especially the rare earths), but if they pony up the money to develop the mine, and have the industrial appetite to consume all of our production, and they'll pay, who are we to turn them down?
Should be an interesting 2-3 years coming up with this company.
Cheers
M78
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