Ann: Half Year Accounts, page-9

The fact that VML is taking out all (or some) of the Cerium from the carbonate prior to shipment to REEtec saves money in this value chain in transport costs (not extremely important) but more importantly it saves REEtec having to use chemicals to dissolve the Cerium and all the costs involved in producing some product that can perhaps today be sold for about 1.5USD/kg for a product that is 99.95% purity. My experience in processing has shown that Cerium is usually only produced as a product in order to reduce the overall loss in the mixed carbonate chemical processing. In my opinion, the less Cerium involved, the more profitable for both companies.