for me as a layman what the user writes on X looks very porfesionell
....what if he is right that it is not so easy to open the mine in Greenland and why haven't other big companies done this long ago?
https://x.com/Sustainabledud1/status/1878426034283897250Some people asked me to elaborate on this, and I'm more than happy to do so.So in Greenland there are two major rare earth deposits that often hit the headlines: Kvanefjeld and TanbreezI'll cover Tanbreez in this post (will write something on Kvanefjeld later) as it has recently been acquired by Critical Metals Corp ($CRML) which is now touting it as the 'largest rare earth deposit in the world'.
For context, see below the overview of the Tanbreez asset, a 4.7 billion mt deposit containing some 28 million tonnes of rare earths.
If we were to believe Critical Metals Corp (you shouldn't), it is 'the largest rare earth deposit in the world' It sound fantastic does it? Yeah it does, except that you cannot get the rare earths out, which is pretty damn important when you want to use them as a "reliable supply crucial for national security" - quoted from Critical Metals See, the rare earths are contained in a mineral called 'eudialyte'. While many don't give this too much attention, the mineral that contains the rare earths (or other metal of interest) is often exactly what makes or breaks a mining project.
See below the chemical composition of eudialyte
Na15(Ca,Ce)6(Fe,Mn)3Zr3Si(Si25O73)(O,OH,H2O)3(OH,Cl)2
The first problem is that the eudialyte mineral here only contains 3% rare earths (on a weight basis). This directly eliminates the possibility of making a eudialyte concentrate at the mine site and shipping that to a potential customer. Why? because the economics to ship a concentrate with only 3% valuable content halfway around the world simply don't add up. (yes, there are some other potential by-products in the eudialyte like Zr, Nb but the equation still holds).
That alone would make this project a no-go, but here is the real problem; eudialyte is an absolute nightmare to process (i.e. to get the rare earths out in usable form, at acceptable cost). When you process eudialyte, you get stuck with a thick mush of what's called 'silica gel'. It's an absolute nightmare from a chemical processing perspective because it clogs filters, fouls equipment, and traps valuable metals in a sticky matrix that’s incredibly difficult to separate. This gel forms when the silicate portion of the eudialyte dissolves in acid and then re-polymerizes, creating a viscous slurry that resists normal solid-liquid separation methods. Once the gel sets in, even high-pressure filtration, centrifugation, or thickening become problematic. It leads to extended downtime, increased reagent consumption, and major losses of both product and process efficiency.
China has tried processing eudialyte, and they haven't succeeded (and that should tell you something). Critical Metals Corp of course knows this, but prefer keeping it silent (or hidden in the little footnotes that many investors will never read). They hope to lure investors in by marketing this as the ' world largest rare earth deposit (of rare earths that you can't get out)' and by jumping on the 'Greenland resources hype' bandwagon.
Please don't listen to that - Tanbreez has been known since the 1800s (!) and the mere fact it hasn't been developed after 200 years should tell you something; it's shit - always has been, always will be.
So let's make one thing absolutely clear; don't buy Greenland for the rare earths, because you will be very disappointed in the end..
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