Rare earth abundance seen as a coal royalty substitute

Minerals sands junior Ark Mines said the generation of a rare earth metals industry in Queensland should be looked at as a substitute for coal royalties. Ark Mines recently told the ASX it had an estimated exploration target of 1.3 to 1.5 billion tonnes of high-value heavy minerals and rare earth elements contained in the Sandy Mitchell project. Sandy Mitchell is located west of Cape Flattery where Mitsubishi has the world’s largest silica sand mine. The project had the potential to generate considerable jobs, growth and royalties executive director Ben Emery said. Executive Director Ark Mines Ben Emery The project was an outlier when considering rare earth deposits Mr Emery said. “The key with this type of project is that you've got an abundance. Rare earths, although they're rare, they're everywhere, but they're not there in abundance and scale. “We've got scale here and that's our true advantage as far as the message we'd like to get across is that QIC/Queensland government are looking to replace coal royalties. We see this as a perfect place to replace those coal royalties. “The sheer scale of the Sandy Mitchell exploration target, up to 1.5 billion tonnes, delivers a clear statement that this is one of the world’s largest surface-expressed, sand-based placer Rare Earth deposits. “With the consistent grades of rare earths and heavy minerals from surface to only 11 metres deep, we are working with an exceptionally large and very simple deposit with an extremely low environmental impact.” Related: Presentation to the Noosa Mining Conference November 24 Heavy rare earth elements sit at the northern end of the periodic table with uranium and are found in deposits like that at the old Mary Kathleen uranium mine site west of Mount Isa in Queensland. Uranium mining is banned in Queensland which is often seen as a barrier to mining rare earths. But the incidence of uranium at Sandy Mitchell is within tolerance levels said Mr Emery. “As long as you're not triggering Class Seven, it's okay to export and all the testing we've done, the many tons we've processed, we haven't even in the concentrations we're talking about, we haven't triggered Class Seven, everything's been under. “If we do, we've got options to mediate that. “We've also got Darwin Port, which can handle Class Seven export. I think where Queensland sits we have to, obviously, look at all options and look to reclassify Class Seven to save everyone. People are successfully exporting globally Class Seven product. Related: Definition of Class seven transport Ark says the project contains all critical Light Rare Earths as well as dysprosium (Dy), terbium (Tb), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm) ytterbium (Yb), yttrium (Y) & Monazite, Zircon, Rutile, Xenotime and Ilmenite.

Rare earth abundance seen as a coal royalty substitute

Industry Queensland

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