a winning combination for Northern Minerals
HEAVYANDRARE
GEORGE BAUK
MANAGING DIRECTOR
NORTHERN MINERALS LTD
During the past year, Northern Minerals has taken
some big steps forward in the development of its
Heavy Rare Earth (HRE) projects, and stamped itself
on the global map as a significant potential new
source of supply. Now, following its exploration
success, the company is moving full steam ahead
at its Browns Range project, with plans to be in
production by 2015.
The focus for Northern Minerals in 2012
has been proving the exciting HRE potential at
Browns Range in northern Western Australia. The
company completed a number of drilling programs
across the Wolverine and Gambit prospects which
returned some spectacular high grade HRE results.
Importantly, the results assays also confirmed the
dominance of the high value ‘heavy’ elements such
as dysprosium and yttrium.
At the same time Northern Minerals completed
a significant program of metallurgical test work.
The results have also helped clear another potential
hurdle and significantly fuelled confidence in the
project, by proving that xenotime mineralisation at
Browns Range can be processed relatively easily.
Managing Director George Bauk said, “The
results in 2012 have been above expectations, and
have given the company high levels of confidence
to move the project toward production.
The exploration programs over the past year
have really delivered some outstanding results,
and confirmed that we have high a number of high
grade prospects at Browns Range with potential to
be globally significant sources of HRE.
Our metallurgical test work has indicated we can
process the mineralisation using a simple and low
cost flow sheet, and infrastructure that will require
a relatively low level of capital expenditure. Our
focus now is on fast-tracking this to production, with
the next milestones being delineation of a maiden
JORC resource, and completion of the pre-feasibility
studies in the second half of 2012,” he said.
To deliver this, Northern Minerals has doubled
its exploration and project management team,
and has commenced an expansion of the camp
facilities on site. It has continued to meet with
local community and government representatives
to discuss development opportunities, and has
initiated an indigenous employment program within
the local community.
In July 2012, the company commenced an
accelerated exploration program which included
20,000
metres of drilling to help define the JORC
resource at the Wolverine prospect, as well as
advancing other regional targets. The regional
program has identified a number of exciting
new targets across the Browns Range geological
structure. The company will follow these up in
the year ahead, as part of its strategy to build a
significant mineral inventory and capitalise on the
strong market for HRE.
Northern Minerals has also commenced strategic
off-take discussions with a number of potential
partners, as the HRE continues to attract significant
commercial and political attention. Prices have eased
from their spectacular highs of 2011, but demand
continues to grow for its use in some of the world’s
fastest growing applications. This includes smaller
and faster electronic products such as smart phones,
televisions and computers, as well as the increasing
use in clean energy products, such as hybrid cars,
wind turbines and energy efficient lighting.
On the other hand, supply remains constrained,
particularly for the ‘heavies’ such as dysprosium
and yttrium. This has seen some political jostling in
the international market, as China (which produces
99%
of the world’s HRE) moves to tighten its export
to shore-up supplies, and the rest of the world
scrambles to ensure it has access to future supply.
With an expected shortage of key rare earth
elements yttrium and dysprosium in the next decade,
Northern Minerals is well poised to capitalise.
Browns Range project
RC drilling at Gambit prospect
MINESITE 2012
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