6 www.resourceworld.com August 2009

Through all human history, the love of pre-cious metals (gold, silver, platinum) has woven a thread of art, beauty, culture, and greed. The first metals mined were the easiest to extract from the Earth: magnetic iron, gold nuggets from streams, soft cop-per from veins. The industrial and military advances of the past two centuries have progressed with improvements in mining technology. Scientists have found new uses for each element discovered. Without the discovery of radioactive elements like ura-nium, there would be no nuclear warheads, no X-rays, no medical isotopes, no radiometric dat-ing with its story of the immense time involved in Earth history, no sorrowful wastelands like Hiroshima and Nagasaki or Chernobyl, no living with constant dread of the bomb, no hope of curing cancer.

With each new technological tool and min-eral extraction technique come new prospects for the mining business, new definitions of ore (earth materials that can be mined for a profit), new facets of progress, new dangers. If not for europium from the rare earth element mined in the Mountain Pass carbonatite intrusion in California, colour television would never have been affordable. The computer on which this article was composed contains commodities the Romans never even imagined, in addition to the age-old useful metals they did know about (iron, copper, gold). Without the refinement of

lithium, there would be less treatment for bipo-lar disorder and less possibility for electric and hybrid automobiles and certainly less twitter-ing on cell phones (see May 2009 RW for article on lithium).

The rare earth elements (REE) are usually defined as the special section of the periodic table known as the lanthanide metals or lan-thanides, from lanthanum (#57) to lutetium (#71), and also yttrium (#39), totaling 15 chemically similar elements that occur in many common rocks in small amounts. Promethium (Pm, #61), is generally not included due to lack of stable isotopes and zero natural occur-rence. The light rare earth elements (LREE) are commonly defined as La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, with the first four the most abundant. The heavy rare earth elements (HREE) are con-sidered more valuable as they are rarer, and are defined by the U.S. Geological Survey as Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu; and commonly also included with this group are Eu and Y, due to their similar properties and occurrence. The lanthanides are all reactive, silvery grey, soft metals ranging in specific gravity from 4.4 to 9.8 g/cm3, and vary in crustal abundance from cerium, at 60 ppm as common as copper, to thulium and lutetium, at 0.5 ppm the least abundant rare earths, yet more abundant than silver. Uses for each depend on their unique chemical properties.

Study of the rare earth elements (REE) is

Rare earth elements and rare metals by Jennifer S. Getsinger, PhD, PGeo.

The simple life of the Stone Age required only stone tools made of broken rocks. With the Iron Age came the complexity of knives, war, and forging. Mining really got going with the Bronze Age (tin, copper). Almost all of the known mining areas of Europe were discovered by the Romans. Refined steel, petroleum, and aluminum have defined the modern industrial age.

August 2009 www.resourceworld.com 7

essential to an understanding of the petrol-ogy of igneous rocks, and contributes to various processes of radiometric dating and research into the origins of the uni-verse. But mere curiosity is not enough to spark mining. This is where colour moni-tors and emerging electronic devices and their expanding markets instigated devel-opment of affordably mining these unusual elements.

The United States used to produce all of its rare earth elements from mines such as Mountain Pass in California near the Nevada border (conveniently located between its customers, the television producers of Los Angeles and the neon and rare element phosphored fluorescent lights of Las Vegas), but environmental concerns about radio-active components such as monazite and competition from less costly mining meth-ods and deposits in China shut it down. Vast resources of “ion-adsorption” ore in tropi-cally weathered granitic rocks of southern China, where in-place concentration of rare earth metal cations in kaolinite provides low grade, but bulk mineable deposits of yttrium and the middle REEs, as well as bastnasite production as a by-product of the Bayan Obo iron mine of inner Mongolia, have supplanted most other world suppliers of lanthanides. However, reborn as a private company, Molycorp Minerals is now work-ing on reviving mining at Mountain Pass as well as manufacturing magnets. Molycorp is expecting renewed local support due to strategic concerns regarding rare metals.

World market for rare metals and lan-thanides can only increase with the present trend toward the proliferation of personal music and electronic devices and green tech-nology transportation – all requiring smaller and more powerful rechargeable batteries as

well as small permanent magnets. Below is a selection of companies involved in rare met-als and rare earths.

Adex Mining Inc. [ADE-TSXV] is “reaching new heights at Mount Pleasant, North America’s largest tin deposit and the world’s largest (known) reserve of indium,” located in New Brunswick. Adex plans to reactivate former producer, the Mount Pleasant tungsten-molybdenum mine, as well as to develop the related tin-indium-zinc deposit of the North Zone. In April 2009, Adex announced a NI 43-101 compliant indicated mineral resource esti-mate of 10.88 million tonnes of Sn-In-(Zn) ore (0.43% Sn, 67.8 grams indium/tonne, 0.67% zinc, and lesser tungsten, moly, arse-nic, copper and bismuth) at a cut-off grade of 0.25% tin-equivalent (calculated using tin and indium but not zinc values), and a price of indium of US $500/kg. Indium is used in thin-film coatings for solar panels and in LCD monitors such as those on com-puters and flat-screen televisions.

Argentex Mining Corp. [ATX-TSXV] is a Vancouver junior mining company with a cast of local star geologists including Kenneth Hicks (president), Colin Godwin, Jenna Hardy, and others. Its flagship Pinguino property in southern Argentina is a “unique indium-bearing silver polymetal-lic” (silver-indium-zinc-lead-gold) deposit (copper and tin are also present). Holding mineral rights to 35 properties in the 60-kilometre northwest-striking Tranquilo Trend, Argentex is in a good position to help meet the growing demand for indium from the green-energy sector and Japanese display technology applications.

Avalon Rare Metals Inc. [AVL-TSXV] recently announced additional promising

ExploRIng foR METAlS of ThE fuTuRE

TOP: Project Geologist Angie Martin downloads data on rainfall, sun, snow, wind speed and direction from the weather station into her computer at the Avalon Ventures Thor Lake Project Northwest Territories. Photo by Chris Pederson.

BOTTOM: Danny Gorham and Doug McDonagh of Dahrouge Geological prepare for field work on Commerce Resources Blue River Tantalum-Niobium Project in eastern British Columbia, Canada. Photo courtesy Commerce resource Corp.

REFER TO TABLE OF ELEMENTS PAGE 55.

8 www.resourceworld.com August 2009

assays from its Thor Lake (NWT) REE proj-ect, including highlight drill hole L09-152 with its high-grade Basal Zone intercept of 2.96% total rare earth oxides (TREO), 37.6% of that consisting of heavy rare earth oxides (HREO: Eu to Lu, and Y), over 11.6 metres; and within that intercept, 2.3 metres grad-ing 4.41% TREO with 28.7% HREO. Various phases of Precambrian granitoid rocks and pegmatites on the property contain sev-eral mineralized zones, featuring other rare metals such as zirconium, niobium, tanta-lum, gallium, and beryllium, concentrated in hydrothermal mineral assemblages of LREE-bearing bastnasite, monazite, allan-ite, and synchisite, and HREE-bearing monazite and zircon, as well as the yttrium niobium–tantalum solid solution mineral fer-gusonite-formanite; and beryllium-enriched silicate phenacite, among others.

Previously considered by several min-ing companies for mining individual compounds, and then dropped for economic and/or complicated extraction reasons, the chemically complex Thor Lake Project is being re-evaluated by Avalon in terms of its metallic diversity in the light of increas-ing demand for a variety of these elements, especially neodymium and dysprosium for the extra-strong magnets needed in mul-tiple electronic devices. Avalon has other properties on hold, such as the Separation Rapids lithium-tantalum project, and the Lilypad Lake pegmatite, enriched in tanta-lum, cesium, rubidium, and lithium, both in Ontario. Avalon’s East Kemptville, NS, project hosts an old tin mine prospective for indium (element #49, periodic table column IIIA below gallium), used in semiconductors, transparent conductive coatings on glass, in LEDs, and various medical and other indus-trial applications. See Avalon’s presentation on its website (www.avalonventures.com) for a page on metal prices.

Canadian International Minerals Inc. [CIN-TSXV] holds an option to earn a 75% interest from Commerce Resources Corp. in the road-accessible rare earth element (REE) property 80 kilometres northeast of Prince George, central British Columbia. Commerce conducted an exploration pro-gram in 2006 that included soil sampling, scintillometer and magnetometer surveys,

and sampling. Thirty-six samples contained anomalously REE concentrations. A summer exploration program is underway consisting of geological mapping, soil and rock geo-chemical sampling, and trenching.

Commerce Resources Corp. [CCE-TSXV; D7H-FSE] focuses on tantalum, niobium, and other rare metals in carbonatites, especially at the Upper Fir deposit at their Blue River Project in British Columbia, and their new Eldor prospect in Québec, which is enriched in phosphorus, ura-nium, and rare earth elements in addition to tantalum and niobium. The discovery of purple fluorite “points to the multi-com-modity potential of the Eldor Property,” according to their website, which quotes David Hodge, President of Commerce. He predicts the Upper Fir Project could have a mine life of more than 15 years with annual production of tantalum reaching 1 million pounds (about 450 tonnes).

Resource estimates for Upper Fir deposit in a 2007 NI 43-101 report show it to be the largest deposit of tantalum mineralization in the area. Using a cut-off grade of 100 grams Ta

2O

5/tonne, indicated resources are esti-

mated at 23.1 million tonnes of 177 grams Ta

2O

5/tonne and 1145 grams Nb

2O

5/tonne,

and inferred resource estimate at 13.3 mil-lion tonnes of 178 grams Ta

2O

5/tonne and

1149 grams Nb2O

5/tonne, consistent with

previous estimates from the property area. Tantalum and niobium are hosted mainly in the reddish mineral pyrochlore; high phos-phorus is assumed to come from apatite in the report, but given anomalous thorium (Th), some monazite might also be present, which could also host the elevated REE val-ues. In preliminary exploration, the Carbo property north of Prince George, BC, also exhibits anomalous tantalum, niobium, and rare earth elements.

Gold Canyon Resources Inc. [GCU-TSXV] features three gold properties in the Red Lake, Ontario, district: the Springbole, Horseshoe, and Favourable Lake projects. Their other two projects are the Kratz Spring iron-oxide/copper-gold +/- REE deposit joint venture with JOGMEC in Missouri, and the Cordero Gallium Project in northwestern Nevada. It’s the largest primarily gallium project in North America

(see March 2008 RW for details). Gallium is a soft metal up to its melting point at 30°C, but it doesn’t boil until it reaches 2403°C. It’s used widely in the electronics industry, and is increasing in demand.

Great Western Minerals Group [GWG-TSXV] is “forging the link in the rare earth element mine-to-market chain” – intending, like Molycorp Minerals, to bring both min-ing and production in this business back to North America. Although Great Western and Molycorp decided on June 15, 2009 not to go ahead with the amalgamation they were negotiating, their goals remain the same, to become vertically integrated rare earth metal miners to producers.

The flagship property of Great Western Minerals Group is at Hoidas Lake, Saskatchewan, in a former uranium mining area, where 10 kilometres of fault struc-tures through Precambrian granitic rocks are rife with veins containing mineralized apatite and allanite, a phosphate and an epidote mineral, respectively, that can host both lanthanides and radioactive elements, with more than 30 known REE showings. Drill results reported many intersections with greater than 3% TREO (including Y), including local zones up to more than 6% TREO (including Y). At the prefeasibility stage, resources at Hoidas Lake, accord-ing to a Wardrop Engineering NI 43-101 report, using a 1.5 wt.% total rare earth oxide (TREO) cutoff grade, are: measured – 123,000 tonnes of 2.956 wt.% TREO (+Y); indicated – 430,000 tonnes of 2.762 wt.% TREO (+Y); inferred – 812,000 tonnes of 2.445 wt.% TREO (+Y).

Great Western has also begun work on two other REE properties in Canada, at the Douglas River property in the Athabasca Basin (also in a Saskatchewan uranium exploration area) where xenotime min-eralization promises to yield yttrium, and the HREEs dysprosium, and erbium; and at the Benjamin River Project, New Brunswick. These projects are prospective for the critical, heavy rare earth element components of high temperature, perma-nent magnets used particularly in hybrid vehicles. GWG also holds a 25% interest in the Deep Sands Glacial Lake Bonneville Beach deposit in Utah, which is being

August 2009 www.resourceworld.com 9

explored for its concentration of rare earth elements in the heavy magnetite layers.

Houston Lake Mining Corp. [HLM-TSXV] focuses on valuable metals in northwest Ontario with its near-pro-duction West Cedartree Gold Project, its platinum group property at Tib Lake, and its rare metals Pakeagama Lake Project, near Red Lake. Located near the Manitoba Tanco Mine area, the Pakeagama alkaline intrusive complex pegmatite hosts rare metals tantalum, rubidium, lithium (in petalite), and cesium, with lesser niobium, tin, thal-lium, and gallium.

Hudson Resources Inc. [HUD-TSXV] has completed first phase explorations of its 100%-owned Sarfartoq carbonatite project in Greenland, which host REEs plus niobium and tantalum.

IBC Advanced Alloys Corp. [IB-TSXV], based in Vancouver, is another company set on mine-to-market integration, with a focus on beryllium and non-ferrous alloys, and also owns successful manufacturing sub-sidiaries in the U.S. IBC has dominant share positions as well in beryllium deposits in Uganda, the U.S. and Brazil, including the former producing Boomer Mine of Colorado. At IBC’s currently producing Spor Mine, adjacent to the Brush Wellman mines and beryllium production plant in Delta, Utah, beryllium occurs in pegmatite minerals such as bertrandite, an alteration of beryl. Beryllium, a light metal with a high melting temperature, is used in cooling systems and shields in nuclear reactors, as well as other industrial and mili-tary applications.

Mainstream Minerals Corp. [MJO-TSXV] and part-ner King’s Bay Gold Corp. [KBG-TSXV] operate a few exploration properties in northwestern Ontario near Red Lake, including the Bobjo Project, targeting gold, rare metals, and rare earth elements. Multi-element analyses posted on their website show typical crustal abundances of most elements, with some elevated gold values.

Matamec Explorations Inc. [MAT-TSXV] is keen to complete a resource report soon on their Zeus REE-Y-Zr property in the Temiskaming area of Québec. The Kipawa Alkaline Complex hosts several rare metal-bearing minerals such as eudialyte and britho-lite. Matamec, led by REE expert Antony Mariano, is building on exploration work started by Unocal in the 1980s.

Mexivada Mining Corp. [MNV-TSXV] has pros-pects in Mexico, Nevada, and the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) seeking gold, silver, diamond, tellurium, molybdenum, uranium, and joint venture partners. Projects targeting the tellurium include the Moly Dome and Jefferson projects in Nevada, and the AuroTellurio Project near Moctezuma, Sonora, Mexico, all of which

Diamond drilling at Rare Element’s Bear Lodge Rare Earths Project in Wyoming, USA, where hole RES 08-3 returned 170 feet of 4.12% Rare Earth Oxides in 2008. Photo courtesy Rare Element Resources Ltd.

10 www.resourceworld.com August 2009

are precious metal prospects with gold-sil-ver-tellurium mineralization. Element #52, Te is the rarest stable solid element in the Earth’s crust at a crustal abundance of 1 to 5 ppb (lower than platinum). It is increas-ingly used in cadmium telluride solar panel technologies. According to Mexivada, the price of tellurium has increased from US $10 to more than US $300/kilogram.

Niocan Inc. [NIO-TSX] is revitalizing the idea of mining niobium (aka columbium) at the old St. Lawrence Columbium (SLC) Mine (1960-1976) in Oka, Québec, hosted by the Oka complex carbonatite. Once it gets going, annual production is expected to be 4,500 tonnes of ferroniobium from 892,000 tonnes of ore grading 0.63% Ni

2O

5.

Quest Uranium Corp. [QUC-TSXV] has added rare earth elements to its uranium-dominated portfolio at the old Iron Ore Company’s Strange Lake deposit at the bor-der of Québec and Labrador. With known resources of 52 megatonnes of 3.25% ZrO

2,

0.64% Y2O

3, 0.56% Nb

2O

5, 1.3% TREO,

and 0.12% BeO, Quest has discovered additional HREE and uranium showings that warrant further exploration.

“Targeting gold and rare earth elements,” Rare Element Resources Ltd. [RES-TSXV] was recently upgraded to a Tier One com-pany on the Venture Exchange. It recently reported the Sundance Gold Joint Venture between its subsidiary, Paso Rico (USA) Inc., and Newmont North America Exploration Ltd. in the Bear Lodge area of Wyoming was permitted to go ahead with expanded drilling. This also allows for further exploration and evaluation of rare earth element targets in the Bull Hill area.

According to a previous report by the U.S. Geological Survey quoted by Donald Ranta, President/CEO of Rare Element Resources, the Bear Lodge property “encompasses one of the largest dissemi-nated rare-earth occurrences in North America.” The main ore mineral is bast-nasite with primarily LREE, especially lanthanum and cerium. Earlier exploration by other companies estimated resources around 4 million tonnes of about 3.8% TREO, which the company expects to con-firm in the coming field seasons.

Rare Element reported encouraging REE

metallurgical test results on oxide samples from the 100%-owned Bear Lodge prop-erty. Tests on near-surface oxide material from three 2008 holes gave a range of recoveries and concentrate grades, from 70% recovery with a grade 14.25% rare earth oxide to 90% recovery with a con-centrate grade of 9.2% REO.

Sarissa Resources Inc. [SRSR-TSXV] is rejuvenating the Nemegosenda niobium property in Ontario under the leadership of Scott Keevil and Alan Hawke (see May 2009 issue of RW). Phase II exploration is underway, consisting of further diamond drilling of the D Zone.

Ucore Uranium Inc. [UCU-TSXV] has taken over an area around the former uranium producing Ross Adams Mine in the Alaska Panhandle on the south tip of Prince of Wales Island (southwest of Ketchikan, northwest of Prince Rupert) and is developing plans for a new uranium and rare metals mine at its flagship Bokan Mountain property, with “near term production potential.” Containing approx-imately 5,000 tonnes of uranium and additional niobium, tantalum, zirconium, beryllium, and REEs, the Bokan Mountain property hosts one of the largest com-bined light and heavy rare earth element deposits, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The Bokan intrusive complex is a Jurassic peralkaline ring dyke with radial veins hosting uranium and rare metal min-eralization. n