Asian Metal visits Brown Range Project of Northern Minerals

On November 21st, Vivian Pang, the senior analyst of rare earth market from Asian Metal, visited Brown Range Heavy Rare Earth Project of Northern Minerals Limited (ASX: NTU) on invitation and received warm reception from Robin Wilson, the mining manager of the company, and other related staff, who introduced the progress of the project in details.

Vivian Pang firstly visited Wolverine and Gambit West, Northern Minerals’ two mines in operation. The known and inferred mineral resources of Wolver are 4.97 megatons, among which 0.86% are rare earth oxides. In particular, the proportion of heavy rare earth oxides is 89%; the grades of dysprosium and terbium within heavy rare earth are 0.074% and 0.011% respectively. The total content of rare earth oxides reaches 42,560t.

Meanwhile, the known and inferred mineral resources of Gambit West are 0.39 megaton, among which 1.07% are rare earth oxides. In particular, the proportion of heavy rare earth oxides is 89%; the grades of dysprosium and terbium within heavy rare earth are 0.091% and 0.012% respectively. The total content of rare earth oxides is as high as 4,177t.

Northern Minerals will finish the initial mining of Brown Range Trial Plant Project in Wolverine and Gambit West before December 2nd, 2017, when it will produce about 180,000t of rare earth ores. The mining began from late July 2017. Then, Vivian Pang paid a visit to Brown Range Trial Plant Project which is planned to finish construction in July 2018. After the construction, the project will start a 3-year period of production with an annual separation capacity of 60,000t of rare earth ores. The company has also built waste water reclamation pools in order to recycle waste water and save water energy.

Northern Minerals attaches great importance to the development of heavy rare earth project, especially the project related to dysprosium element. It aims to become the largest dysprosium producer in the world, ranking only second to China, through developing Brown Range Trial Plant Project, its flagship project. It owns all shares of Brown Range Project which includes several mineral deposits and prospective areas. The xenotime of these mineral deposits and prospective areas contains high-value of dysprosium and other heavy rare earth elements.