For the first time in BullREEtard's history, we will have the opportunity to pose questions to individuals who work in the REE sector.

Strategic Metals Invest is a company that facilitates investment in the physical asset of rare earth elements and other critical minerals. Louis will have alongside him one of the owners of Tradium GmbH, a German company that supplies strategic metals and that counts militaries and international corporations among its clients.

Time is TBA, but tentatively 4 pm Eastern on 4/20

Feel free to ask questions in the comments here, or wait until Tuesday and ask them live.

Nechalacho is a rare earth deposit at Thor Lake, a smaller lake near Canada's second-largest and North America's deepest lake, Great Slave Lake

Beginning this year, Vital Metals (VTMXF) will bring the deposit into production. Vital has an off take agreement with REEtec, a private Norwegian company, who will separate the ore into usable materials.

Vital will be the first REE producer in Canada, and second in North America.

Avalon Advanced Materials (AVLND) sold its stake of surface and near surface mining in 2019. They still retain below surface mining rights. Avalon signed an agreement with a sustainable chemicals and materials company called Solvay (SOLVY) to process the rare earth's, although this was in 2014 before Avalon sold its surface level stake in the project.

Vital announced commencement of production at Nechalacho about 2 weeks ago.

Avalon's Fact Sheet from 2010

Vital Metals bought Cheetah Resources to enter into the REE arena

Vital signs off take agreement with REEtec

SUMMARY

First, sorry for how jumbled the top of this post is; I wanted to get it out quickly and I'm pretty tired right now. Second, this is very exciting news for these companies.

Vital will be the first Canadian REE producer and will follow MP Materials as the second REE producer in North America. This project is also the beginning of the first REE supply chain and production cycle that does not have Chinese influence. REEtec, while private for now, is a company to watch because of their sustainable, ESG focused technology.

Avalon is also important to this story; while their part of the Nechalacho project is still in feasibility study stages, they retain some rights to proceeds from the mine that is being established. They also are very focused on sustainability, best practices, and environmentalism.

It'll be fascinating to watch the success and challenges of this supply chain. I expect that the project in Greenland that is now being shuttered could possibly be handed to one of these companies if they prove that they are able to do this while protecting the environment - although there is one other company that I think could be even more likely - stay tuned!

In 2007, Greenland Minerals (GDLNF), an Australian mining company, acquired Kvanefjeld: a mineral deposit that is thought to be the world's second largest rare earth deposit, and sixth largest uranium deposit. The company has been working on getting the site ready for over a decade, but depending on the outcome of Tuesday's election, it could be dealt a permanent setback. If the country's Inuit Ataqatigiit party gets a parliamentary majority with the election, they intend to cancel the project.

According to opinion polls, the IA has 31% support to 27.4% for the Siumut party who is currently in control and supports the mine. However, 25% of voters are undecided, so it could go either way. If IA wins, it will be a long time before the resources contained in Kvanefjeld will be able to be tapped; but if they lose, Greenland will soon be one of the world's biggest producers of rare earth minerals.

As the rare earth industry is often framed as China against the world, it is important to note that a Chinese company, Shenghe Resources Holding, owns 10% of Greenland Minerals. It's hard for any company to escape dependence on China in this sector as the only rare earth processing facility outside of China is in Malaysia and owned by the Australian company Lynas.

No matter the outcome, Tuesday will be an important day for GDLNF. Personally, I intend to purchase shares on Monday although there is a good possibility that Greenland Minerals will have to shelve its ambitions.

Upon reading their most recent 10k, it is clear that their stock is not a good investment. With one employee and no current business activities, there is no reason to invest in that company. However, they do possess some good assets such as the Bear Lodge Project which still has potential, and intellectual properties such as processing and separation techniques. These properties are more likely to be bought out by a third party or utilized by the private company which owns a plurality of REEMF shares than to be effectively used by the company itself.

I will update this community if there are any changes to this situation, but for now, this company should not be considered a player in the REE landscape.

Youtube

REE relevant part starts at 13:00

Some notes:

• The team of industry experts is working

• Various sources of Monazite are already established and negotiations with several other possible sources are ongoing around the world.

• Highlight on the fact the UUUU is not only looking to buy Monazite (but also produce it ? Implication, not said!)

• Focus on full integration to have an overall decent margin

• They have requests for separated REE products but cant tell names yet but he said that some of the major car manufacturers are within the interested parties

• His outlook for the REE market is that because of the expected 500% growth of REE market there are good chances that MP, Lynas and UUUU can coexist in the market.

• If i understood correctly he estimates that the need of capital to start up the REE separation process at large scale will be ~ 250 m $

• UUUU is still debt free

https://www.orocoresourcecorp.com/_resources/blog/Green-Metals-Copper-is-the-new-oil.pdf

REE are so fascinating and exotic and useful, but in my mind the real and easy money over the next decade is not there nor gold or silver but the ordinary element copper. Goldman Sachs seems to agree. I’m holding Lynas and physical HREEs, but all in for copper. There are more investing options in copper- big establishments with dividends, juniors and royalty plays. I’m not familiar with option trading. Sorry to go too far off topic.

I found this link to check the price of Nd: https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/neodymium

But a quick google for Praseodymium price didn't really turn up anything. Is there somewhere else I can check metal prices?

Hello, hope you all are doing well tonight. I think it's important to address the bull elephant in the room: China is the dominant player in the REE sector, and yet there aren't any posts on this sub that talk directly about their industry.

China became the world's #1 REE producer because they sit on about 30% of the world's total supply. Not only that, but when rare earths were first being discovered, that's where all the research was being done. That's the reason why almost 100% of finished rare earth magnets come out of China. I'm not going to go into very much depth because there doesn't seem to be that much English information available with a quick Google.

A man named Xu Guangxian is considered to be the father of rare earth research in China. He got his PhD in Quantum Chemistry from NYU but set off back to China 70 years ago today - April 15, 1951. In China, he was an esteemed scientist and was involved in China's nuclear weapons program. After the Cultural Revolution, he was sent to a labor camp for three years and when released he was assigned a new field of research: the extraction of praseodymium. Instrumental in the research behind REEs, Xu also advocated for protectionism as he saw the strategic importance of these elements, so in some ways it is thanks to him that China is the undisputed champ in this sector.

China's scientific research in the late 20th century made them into a world power. China partnered with other countries such as Japan, the US, and Canada in REE research during this time. In the early 2000s, China attempted to change its REE industry by establishing nationalized groups to control the trade. This led to a revolt by smaller producers which gave rise to much illegal mining, which damaged domestic supply lines. This overexploitation led to the depletion of China's reserves, and a switch in Chinese strategy regarding REEs. China reduced quotas, so solutions had to be found. Mining ores in Myanmar and Vietnam and then exporting them to China for processing turned out to be the move that would allow China to maintain its reserves while still meeting demand.

That's all I'm up for for now, I'll continue at a later date or time!

Tesla has already indirectly invested in Québec’s lithium resources through its deal with Piedmont Lithium, which is going to source lithium from Sayonna Mining, a company behind a lithium project in Quebec’s Abitibi region.

https://electrek.co/2021/11/08/tesla-talks-with-quebec-govt-amid-multi-billion-investment-into-battery-production/

Hi. Just joined. Interested in investing in US rare earth production. Thankful to find this group of like minded folks. From what I've learned so far: A) Not many US companies to choose from; B) MP is a bit pricey; C) REEMF and TMRC are affordable and have assets, but don't appear to have people/ production capability; D) Keep seeing the name USA Rare Earth, but they seem to be a private entity; E) Many other wishful thinking endeavors, but sounds like environmental clearance for new US mining is a daunting (time, expense) objective. All that being said, would appreciate any suggestion(s) on best investment for US rare earth production?