I don't post here much these days but I do follow this thread and thus I too have got the Jack with the interminable feuding between GBB & NRO on this forum. So before I copy & paste the following concerning Tanbreez and its viability I would just like to add these few comments:
- There may well also be deposits rich in uranium on the Tanbreez concession. This doesn't mean that the whole Tanbreez concession is uranium rich & certainly doesn't mean that the specific eudialyte deposit(s) GBB has proven up and is now authorised to mine is uranium rich.
- If GBB has also assured his continuing rights over any uranium reserves that may be on his concession should the Greenland Government's rules on uranium mining change at some indetermined date in th future, that just makes the guy prudent in my book, not dishonest. Eudialyte deposits typically have very low levels of radioactivity compareed to steenstrupine deposits. This is proven & indisputable.
- What Tanbreez chooses to do or does not choose to do with & on its concession is totally irrelevant to what ETM does & should do on their (neighbouring) concession, only a part of which has till now been thoroughly investigated. The latter not the former is what we collectively have an interest in and that this thread is supposed to be all about. Unlike ETM, Tanbreez is a private company. So best of luck to them. Let's concentrate on our own interests not theirs.
- I don't know either NRO or GBB personally and have no, and have never had, any connection whatsoever to either Tanreez or ETM other than being a humble shareholder in the latter.
- Based on my knowledge of Contract & Equity law, I do however believe that ETM does indeed have a strong and legitimate legal claim against the Greenland & Danish Governments for the reasons I spelled out in detail some time ago in my earlier posts on this forum (long before it went to arbitration) --- specific legal arguments all of which I note (with some pride) have since been incorporated into the documents supporting the case currently before arbitration.
- Whether or not there is some "chicanery" going on behind the scenes between the arbitrators, the two governments and the Danish/Grenlandic legal & political institutions aimed at stymying ETM's claim, and thus depriving them (and by extension we shareholders) of their legal right to fair & equitable redress ... there I reserve judgement. I'm waiting to see how it plays out in the context of the real world.
But for now, here is something about eudialyte and its extraction based on Tanbreez
A Description of the World-Class Rare Earth Element Deposit Tanbreez, South Greenland—Chapter 5—by Hans K. Schønwandt, Gregory B. Barnes, and Thomas UlrichDistribution of the total rare earth oxide (REO) in the ore (kakortokite) shows a quantity of 30.9% heavy REE (including Y) and 69.1% light REE (Figure 5). Importantly,
drill core assays show that elements such as U and Th have background values (20 and 53 parts per million [ppm], respectively), which is an advantage in processing the ore.•Rare earth element–bearing minerals have a highly variable metallurgical response to both chemical and physical treatment, and even in the same mineral group there can be significant differences in crystal chemistry, which results in different processing (Hellman et al., 2014).•Investigations have shown that no or very little cryptic variation occurs in the minerals of kakortokite (Ferguson, 1970; Pfaff et al., 2008); consequently, little change in the eudialyte composition is expected in ore, and therefore the magnetic properties of eudialyte would remain the same for the benefit of the planned magnetic concentration of eudialyte.•The mechanical separation aims to concentrate eudialyte through size reduction and magnetic separation to upgrade zirconium and its accompanying elements (Hf, Nb, Ta, and REE) into a eudialyte concentrate.•Magnetic separation will also enable the production of a nonmagnetic feldspar concentrate and a magnetic tailings product (arfvedsonite). Test work has been conducted for many years at both the laboratory and pilot-scale levels.•Physical separation was based on flotation and magnetic separation. Flotation alone was not able to produce a high-grade eudialyte concentrate. In contrast, reverse flotation and magnetic separation were able to produce a reasonable product.•More recently, high-intensity magnetic separation was shown to produce a high-grade eudialyte concentrate. Current research has focused on crushing, grinding, and abrasion indexes, and these tests identified that equipment common in the mining industry could be used. A typical jaw crusher and cone crusher arrangement may be employed for coarse size reduction.•High-pressure grinding roll test results were well within industry guidelines and will result in minimum fine production and maximum recovery.•Multistage magnetic separation consists of four-stage separation with circulation of middling products, allowing versatility of flow-sheet design to optimize grade and recovery. Physical separation can be summarized as follows: (1) Separation is a dry process; (2) ore crushing is conducted in the mining pit; and (3) ore crushed to −25 mm is hauled to the separation plant where high-pressure grinding rolls reduce the ore to less than 600 μm. Particles less than 45 μm are sent to tailings.•Dry high-intensity magnetic separation is conducted in four stages, producing two concentrates: eudialyte and feldspar. Both are to be shipped in bulk for further processing overseas. Tailings will consist of magnetic arfvedsonite and a fine fraction, which is pumped to a nearby lake by a multistage pumping system.•To further reduce the tailings, arvfedsonite is tested in ongoing research to be used instead of quartz-feldspar sand in the production of bricks. Not only will the use of arfvedsonite produce a stronger brick, but also the burning temperature will be about 150 °C lower.
These encouraging results could mean that all major components of the ore will be used and tailings will be insignificant, as will the impact on the environment.•The Tanbreez polymetallic Zr-Nb-Ta-REE deposit is located in the Ilímaussaq intrusion in South Greenland.•The ore body is made up of kakortokite, characterized by rhythmically layered units that are dominated by feldspar, arfvedsonite, and eudialyte, respectively. The latter is the main ore mineral in the deposit, which is reflected in the perfect correlations between Zr and REE in bulk rock analyses.•Eudialyte can be concentrated by crushing and milling followed by dry, high-intensity magnetic separation. This leads to separation from the other two main minerals, feldspar and arfvedsonite. Use of these two products is also evaluated and will result in minimal waste material.•The volume of the ore body equals about 4.7 billion tons of ore, based on the thickness of the lower layered kakortokite sequence (about 270 m). The entire kakortokite sequence is defined by gradual contact with the overlying lujavrites and an unexposed (only encountered in drill cores) contact zone with numerous xenoliths to the underlying Black Madonna unit. The border zone contact with the augite syenite ring dike is well defined and the outer part of the zone is cut by pegmatoid dikes.•The average ore grade where the initial mining is planned is 1.75% ZrO2, 0.18% Nb2O5, and 0.6% total REO. The proportion of HREE is about 30%
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/eudialyte
