sumitomo, page-17

Thanks for you kind words longtermlegs :)

I think the long bow would be Sumitomo getting any assistance from a chinese company for sx of the 92% mixed Reo.


The $30 Kg costs were not mine as you well know but come from the DJ Carmichael report available from NTUs' website

It certainly raised my eyebrows when I beleive it was Teahouse who suggested $15 Kg production costs but your $12 Kg certainly trumps that

I hope you are right or the boys on the PEK forum are going to rub your nose in it.

The DJ Carmichael report was factoring in about a 20% discount for producting a 92% mixed Reo but at the time of the report the basket price was circa $125 Kg.

Since then the basket price has fallen by 1/3 to $83 Kg.
This will not mean a reduction in the discount.
It will only effect the bottom line and NTU's profit.

I think that fixed discount of $20 Kg is fair and realistic rather than resorting to a percentage

On the subject of production rates. I think it is best to use the latest numbers from

Northern Minerals Limited
Browns Range Rare Earths Project
Section 38 Referral - Supporting Information Document
May 2013 Pg 7

An on-site beneficiation plant would treat up to 750,000 tonne per annum (tpa) of ore to produce approximately 15,000 tpa of mineral concentrate. The beneficiation process would involve crushing, grinding, magnetic separation and flotation of the xenotime ore. The concentrate produced by the beneficiation plant would then be further processed via a hydrometallurgical process to produce up to 4,000 tpa of high purity mixed rare earth oxide for export overseas


750,000 t x .73% grade Wolverine = 5475t Reo
x 80% recovery rate = 4380 t Reo



15,000 t at a 20% concentrate = 3000 t Reo
15,000 t at a 30% concentrate = 4500 t Reo

The limiting factor for production is the % of the concentrate. We will have to achieve a concentrate level of nearly 27% to get the 4000t Reo and even then, there are recovery rates to consider in the Hydrometallurgical process

Tonio