Nice media mention for 'Australian-resource base' AR3.For many...

Nice media mention for 'Australian-resource base' AR3.

For many years, the only rare earths you would find on the ASX were the hard rock kind, championed by miners and project developers like Lynas Corp (ASXS:LYC), Arafura (ASX:ARU), and Northern Minerals (ASX:NTU).

But these projects have their disadvantages.

They are expensive to build, and easy to get wrong. Of the 50 or so rare earths stocks outside China which emerged during the last boom in the 2000s, only two have entered production: Mountain Pass in the US, and Lynas in Australia.

In 2019, Ionic Rare Earths (ASX:IXR), then a $10m market cap tiddler called Oro Verde, acquired a rare earths project with a difference.

This one was clay hosted (IAC); something new for ASX investors, but not the industry. China, which dominates global REE mining and processing, gets most of its supply from IAC deposits in Southern China and neighbouring Myanmar.

By 2021, IXR was still the only IAC stock on the ASX, but by this time it was worth well over $100m as its flagship project moved through the development process. Then, in mid 2021, Australian Rare Earths (ASX:AR3) hit the bourse as clay REE stock #2. Punters responded very positively and, since then, a small avalanche of explorers have entered the clay REE space.

Why are these projects so popular among ASX stocks?

#1: THEY CONTAIN THE RIGHT RARE EARTHS.Rare earth permanent magnets are a crucial component in wind turbines and in the drive train of hybrid and electric vehicles. There’s a couple of kilos of rare earths magnets in every EV, and about a tonne in every MW of power produced by wind turbines.

for more on the story … google – why are ASX stocks so in love with clay rare earths projects a punters guide

GLTAH