mt welds' 3rd sister, page-6

Alkane Annual Report 2010 , Review of Operations refers to work conducted at Lucas Heights . Sydney.

Quote

TZ Minerals International Pty Ltd (TZMI) in Perth is the program and feasibility study manager; a task they have been coordinating since the inception of the
project in 1998.
The Demonstration Pilot Plant (DPP) has been operating at the laboratory facilities of ANSTO Minerals at Lucas Heights south of Sydney since May 2008 and to
date has recovered substantial sample quantities of zirconium products and niobium concentrate. Throughout the year the DPP continued to operate for short
periods to trial engineering and process innovations such as pulse columns for the solvent extraction circuit, and provide loaded solutions to trial yttrium and
rare earth recovery processes.
Separate programs to improve the quality of existing zirconium and niobium products also continued with success in minimising contaminants within the
zirconium product suite, and production of a ferro-niobium product which is a primary additive for HSLA (high strength low alloy) steels.
The previous laboratory tested process to recover yttrium and heavy rare earths (HREE = gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium and erbium) has been operating
within the DPP with about 30 kilograms of filter cake recovered to date. This filter cake is being further processed to produce a marketable YHREE product.
Laboratory scale testing for the recovery of light rare earths (LREE = lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, praseodymium and samarium) has successfully
produced a high quality rare earth oxide concentrate product containing + 99% REOs. Further laboratory scale optimisation was completed and the LREE
circuit within the DPP is planned to be operational in the second quarter of 2011.

End of Quote.

The laboratory facilities and expertise at Lucas Heights are likely to have an important role in processing Australian sourced rare earths including the Lynas Mt Weld deposits