**china alternative**

the real potential of Nolans bore (rare earths) is contained in the last paragraph

extract from article...

Rare earths are another walk on the wild side for investors. And here there is an especially interesting choice. Lynas Corp has the world-class Mt Weld rare earths deposit near Laverton, Western Australia. Last year China Iron and Steel bought 42.5 per cent of Lynas - an important development in view of the strategic importance of these metals. Lynas is looking at locating some of the processing chain in China.

Now Arafura Resources looks like it is on to another big rare earths find in the Northern Territory. The company has no Chinese links.

Rare earths are found widely but rarely in high-grade occurances. They are vital to daily life: niobium goes into mobile phones, erbium into fibre-optic cable, europium into TV and computer screens.

Here's the rub. China supplies more than 90 per cent of the world's rare earths. As these are used in a variety of defence applications - such as missile guidance systems - the Americans are understandably a bit toey about their dependence on Chinese supplies.

Arafura believes its Nolans Bore project will - if the resource is proven - take off because it is an alternative source of supply to China.


http://finance.news.com.au/story/0,10166,10410492-561,00.html


Pol