Excerpt from the previous article:But it was what Lacaze said...

Excerpt from the previous article:

But it was what Lacaze said about ambitions in the upstream part of the business that was a genuine surprise, kicking off as it did speculation on possible targets.

“We do look at alternative resources (to the fabulous hard-rock Mt Weld deposit). Certainly ionic clay deposits with their preference for heavies (heavy rare earths for permanent magnet batteries) is of interest,” she said.

So there you have it. The owner of the world’s best hard-rock mine is interested in ionic clay deposits – the very thing the Chinese mine domestically and import from Myanmar to underpin their dominance of the critical industry.

If ionic clay deposits are now of interest to Lynas, then they should probably be of interest to investors as the attack on China’s dominance of the industry steps up.

Because of their low-grade, the clay deposits rely on large tonnage, simple processing, and low capex to compete with higher-grade hard-rock shows like Mt Weld. And not all clay deposits are ionic.

So Lynas might be looking to acquire ionic clay REE deposits. Gee, I wish I knew of a small Aussie resource company with a substantial JORC 2012 compliant ionic REE project of the kind Lynas might be interested in. Anyone know of such a company?