General Chat / Discussion, page-172

Thanks FM, great report.

25* pages too lengthy to print out but the conclusion itself is well worth a look a,t especially as IXR. Is projected as one of the successful survivors with its high quality clay dressing. 15cts long projection over 12 months is better than bank interest that’s for sure. GLA


Hallgarten & Company – Portfolio Strategy Conclusion


In the first Rare Earth boom there was a certain “couldn’t care less” attitude towards mineralisations and other finer details of the art of developing a Rare Earth mining and processing operation. This time around the focus is on processability (and the cost thereof). Thus the key consideration now is if the host mineral for the REEs is economically mineable and then can be subjected to a processing regime that is not too expensive in terms of opex or capex.


A key difference this time is that the first boom saw indiscriminately high prices for ALL Rare Earth Oxides. This time the prices of Lanthanum and Cerium are so low they can be scraped off the floor. The implication of this is that the economics of also-ran deposits with high Le-Ce preponderance are shot to pieces in the market place.


From over 300 claimants to be potential Rare Earth producers in 2011, at the end of the last Rare Earths boom, the number of developers shrunk to less than twenty survivors. This number has seen some augmentation in recent times, but nothing like the surge of 2010. Curiously though, of all the listed explorers back then, there was only one targeting ion-adsorption clays (Tantalus A.G.) and now there is still only one listed champion of this type of deposit, and that is Ionic Rare Earths.


Back then these clays were regarded as the Holy Grail of REE deposits but they were also regarded as very rare unicorns, in which only the Chinese (supposedly) had cornered the market. In a marketplace rife with speculation and ignorance this was one of a plethora of lies doing the rounds. In fact, while not common, these clays do exist around the world in laterite form where natural weathering has leached out much of the “undesirable” material, whether it be radioactive elements or the “throwaway” REEs like Cerium and Lanthanum.
Less is more might be the mantra of this go-around in Rare Earths. IonicRE has less


Lanthanum, less Cerium and less radioactive elements. That must put the company in a stronger position than those trying to compete with the burden of these deleterious elements. The challenge now for the company is to use this advantage (and its good infrastructure) to present a Feasibility Study with attractive economics which puts it in the Final Five of companies that will make it to production in the current cycle.

Thus we have given IXR a LONG rating with a 12-month target price of 15 cts.

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Sounds so good.