There were otherwise unrelated announcements last week, but, with a common purpose, by separate pairs of rare earth juniors: The common purpose was the advancing of the creation of a domestic American rare earth enabled product(s) total supply chain.

In one case the Canadian rare earth Junior miner, Search Minerals Inc. (TSXV: SMY | OTCQB: SHCMF), entered into a non-binding MOU for the future delivery of a rare earth mineral concentrate supply, containing 500 tpa of Neodymium/Praseodymium, with one of its investors, privately owned, USA Rare Earth LLC , which has committed itself to producing commercial tonnages of rare earth permanent magnets in the United States as early as 2022-23. Another announcement was made by the Canadian rare earth junior critical metals’ processor, Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSXV: UCU | OTCQX: UURAF | FSE: U9U), which announced that it had entered into an MOU with Australia’s Vital Metals Ltd. (ASX: VML | OTCMKTS: VTMXF ): for a supply of rare earth ore concentrates from Vitals’ already underway mining operations in Canada’s Northwest Territory, to be first processed into a mixed rare earth carbonate in a facility funded by Canada’s Saskatchewan Research Council in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and then shipped to Ucore’s proposed Strategic Metals (processing) Center in Ketchikan, Alaska, USA, for separation into individual rare earths.

These announcements are indicative of a sea-change in the thinking of an increasing number of non-Chinese junior rare earth companies. In the last rare earth boom from 2007-2012 hundreds of juniors had the same goal, the production and sale of a “mixed con” of rare earths, in other words, of an ore concentrate or a concentrate of mixed rare earth solids prepared by hydrometallurgical treatment of ore concentrates. It was commonly believed at that time that Chinese rare earth separation companies, then the only customers, would pay 65% of the ”basket value,” defined as the market price of separated versions of the rare earths contained in the mixed concentrate. This was magical thinking based on a complete misunderstanding of the value of, and the markets for, either ore concentrates or mixed rare earth concentrates. Even today some juniors still insist that their ore concentrates have a basket value based on the values of finished goods. Chinese separators typically have offered 40% of the basket value, delivered into China for high grade ore concentrates free of elements that interfere with solvent extraction separation of mixed rare earths.

The ”supply chain crisis” has clarified the thinking of many juniors. They realize that their product must have an immediate determinable-price demand and that this demand must be by processors who add enough value, so that they can afford to buy the junior’s product at a price that allows the junior to make a profit. This may seem trivially obvious, but it was blithely overlooked in the 2007-12 rare earth boom.

A new factor has entered the calculus for determining the price of mixed rare earth ore concentrates or of mixed rare earth solids free of both radioactive and of SX interfering contaminants. That factor is any added value governments and industries are willing to pay for non-Chinese, or domestic, materials of these descriptions.

So far, only one non-Chinese vendor has entered the market with mixed rare earth carbonate (solids) free of radioactive and SX interferents. That is America’s Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU | TSX: EFR),  which is processing non-Chinese monazite ore at its White Mesa, Utah, uranium processing mill. The mixed rare earth carbonate solids are being sold, at a profit to Energy Fuels, to Canada’s Neo Performance Materials Inc. (TSX: NEO | OTCMKTS: NOPMF),  which has them delivered to its rare earth separation facility in Estonia, where the material is separated into individual rare earths for further processing by Neo or its customers into rare earth permanent magnets, phosphors, ceramic additives, and other fine chemicals. The European Union is already well ahead of the USA in organizing a financial facility to underwrite the creation of a European domestic rare earth enabled products total supply chain without Chinese participation at any level.

In the United States and Canada the supply chain issue is downstream of mining, and is manifested in the total lack of commercial facilities for rare earth separation, metal and alloy making, magnet making, and end use manufacturing.

Europe has existing facilities for up to 12,000 tpa of rare earths separation, a thousand tpa of rare earth metals and alloys, and substantial capacity and existing expertise to make rare earth permanent magnets of the most widely used, sintered, type. Further, both the UK and the EU governments have already begun to support the expansion of existing rare earth processors financially.

The United States and Canada should take a lesson from the UK and the EU: Get industrial end users involved from the very beginning. The UK and the EU speak with industrial experts as well as academics and bureaucrats. The difference is really beginning to show.

Rare earth’s producing miners in the West are very rare as China dominates most of the rare earths production. Two exceptions are both trading with US billion-dollar market caps – They are MP Materials Corp. (NYSE: MP) (US$6.24 billion) and Lynas Rare Earths Limited (ASX: LYC) (US$3.92 billion), with  Today’s company trades on a market cap of just US$55 million.

[Note from the Publisher: The breaking news yesterday Energy Fuels and Neo Performance Materials Announce Contract Signing and Launch of Commercial Shipments of Rare Earth Product to Europe in Emerging U.S.-Based Rare Earth Supply Chain confirms these 2 companies as players in the rare earths supply chain. And Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU | TSX: EFR) market cap is  roughly CAD$1B and Neo Performance Materials Inc. (TSX: NEO) is CAD$615M according to Yahoo Finance at 945 AM EST.)

The Company has a plan to be ready to build their full-scale rare earths processing plant by the end of 2023 and once complete become a North American rare earths producer (potentially by about 2025 provided all goes well). Prior to reaching full scale production, the Company plans to operate a demonstration plant in 2022.

The Company is Search Minerals Inc. (TSXV: SMY | OTCQB: SHCMF) (“Search”). Search controls properties with rare earths in three areas of Labrador, Canada. These are:

• The Port Hope Simpson (PHS) property (flagship)
• The Henley Harbour Area in Southern Labrador
• The Red Wine Complex located in Central Labrador, plus some recently agreed acquisitions

Search Minerals flagship Port Hope Simpson (PHS) property includes Foxtrot, Deep Fox, Silver Fox, Awesome Fox, and Fox Meadow

Next steps (2021) at Port Hope Simpson – Foxtrot/Deep Fox updated PEA by Dec. 2021

The Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) of the Foxtrot Resource showed an estimated after-tax NPV10% of C$48 million and an after-tax IRR of 16.7% over a 14-year mine life. Start-up CapEx was estimated at C$152 million representing an after-tax payback of 4.4 years.

Search plans to do an updated PEA by December 2021 to include both Foxtrot and Deep Fox. Deep Fox will add to the existing PEA due to increasing the resource size and it has up to 15% higher grades than Foxtrot. The updated Foxtrot/Deep Fox PEA will double the past PEA production rate (increase production rate to 2,000 tonnes per day), increase recoveries from the optimized pilot plant process, increase revenue from higher grades at Deep Fox, extend mine life with material from Deep Fox and Foxtrot to a central processing facility, and decrease costs with reduced re–agents. The impact of all of this is expected to potentially improve the PHS (Foxtrot/Deep Fox) Project economics significantly.

Beyond this, there is plenty of potential to further grow the Resource estimate and economics in the Feasibility Study, as Search also has 3 more advanced prospects (Silver Fox, Awesome Fox, and Fox Meadow) and 20+ potential prospects at PHS. Silver Fox has had some exciting “very high occurrence of zirconium and hafnium“. Project CapEx and OpEx should also be attractive as there is existing infrastructure, a scalable processing plan, technical simplicity, and open pit mining. A local workforce and Search’s patented mining process (lowers environmental and reagents costs) should also help reduce costs.

Search has already achieved a dedicated pilot plant, proving an ability to generate high purity, refinement-ready product at a low scale. Added to this there are MOUs signed with Saskatchewan Research Council and USA Rare Earth for further refining collaboration.

Next steps (2022, 2023) – Demonstration plant in 2022 and full-scale production plant construction ready to begin in late 2023

Search’s master plan includes building a demonstration plant in St Lewis in 2022 as well as an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Foxtrot/Deep Fox.

In 2023 Search intends to complete their permitting, a BFS, and commence raising capital to build a full-scale processing plant commencing by the end of 2023. All going very well that can potentially lead to Search commencing rare earth production in 2025 or shortly thereafter.

It should be noted that in the mining industry, unless governments act to support and speed up the process, permitting and funding can drag on for some years. The good news here is the Canadian and US governments finally appear motivated to support (perhaps via faster permitting and low rate loans) a local rare earths supply chain.

In news announced on June 24, 2021, Search was selected to participate in the Government of Canada Accelerated Growth Service Initiative. This provides Search with “coordinated access to Government of Canada resources” as Search continues to move quickly to production.

Search Minerals Strategic Plan – 2021 to 2023

Source: Company presentation

Closing remarks

Search Minerals has big plans in the rare earths sector. The road to production for junior miners carries plenty of risks and usually involves stock dilution increasing the market cap, especially when raising initial project CapEx. One plus for Search Minerals is their Canadian location, as US and Canadian governments are showing increasing interest to help support rare earth projects.

If successful Search Minerals (US$55 million market cap) can begin to follow in the giant footsteps of Western rare earth majors MP Materials (US$6.24 billion) and Lynas Rare Earths (US$3.92 billion). As you can see successful Western rare earths miners command very significant size market caps.

Investors will need to ‘search’ for their patience cap and be prepared for a long ride, but the potential rewards for success can be excellent. Stay tuned.

Appia Energy Corp. (CSE: API | OTCQB: APAAF) announced upsizing its previously announced bought-deal financing to $5 million that it expects to close later this month.

Appia plans to use part of the proceeds on a multi-million dollar summer exploration program on its Alces Lake property, which includes at least 5,000 meters of drilling and property-wide geophysical work. It also aims to upgrade the camp for winter use and access to extend the drilling season.

Appia is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company targeting the rare earth element (REE) and uranium sectors. The Company is currently focusing on delineating REE and uranium targets on its Alces Lake property, and plans to change its name to Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp.

The Alces Lake property is located in the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan, almost 30 kilometers northeast of Uranium City, which is a major centre in the area with good infrastructure including hydroelectric power, an airstrip, and an ice road connection.

The REE assays are reported as Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO) and the Alces Lake property hosts some of the highest REE grades in the world and the second-highest average grade at 16.65% TREO.

SOURCE:

Re-analyzing Previous Samples Confirm Gallium Mineralization

Since 2016, Appia has been working on the Alces Lake project and focused on uranium and the critical rare earth elements (CREE) including neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), dysprosium (Dy), and terbium (Tb).

Recently, Appia re-analyzed some historical samples with high-grade rare earth oxide (REO) results to determine the extent of gallium mineralization over the property and the correlation between REO and gallium.

The results returned gallium concentrations ranging from 0.01% to 0.104% Ga₂O₃ and a positive linear correlation between gallium and REO.

According to the Company, gallium is considered high-grade when the weight percentage Ga₂O₃ is greater than 0.010% and the combination of the high-grade REO system and gallium gives it the potential of becoming a world-class asset for critical metals.

Frederick Kozak, Appia’s President, commented, “The gallium concentrations on the Property are remarkable. Gallium was found in naturally occurring high-concentrations on the Property that far exceed current concentrations required for global production of gallium.”

Gallium is primarily used in electronics, semiconductors, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as it is able to turn electricity into light.

In March, the current price of high-grade gallium metal (99.99%) was US$376.71/kg compared to Nd at US$105/kg, Pr at US$74.95/kg, Dy at US$$424.95/kg, and Tb at US$1,468.02/kg. Being able to recover gallium would increase the ore value to Appia.

Targeting Ore from Deposit in Next 24 Months

Appia’s Alces Lake property has the REE hosted in coarse-grained monazite that is exposed at the surface in high-grade outcrops, making it economic to extract.

Monazite processing for REE extraction has a long history of economic viability and was started in the 1950s at the Steenkampskraal Mine in South Africa.

The company is following a low capital pathway to initial production by focusing on the potential of bulk mining the surface mineralization akin to a gravel pit operation and believes it could start production as early as 2023.

Appia would then use gravity and magnetic separation to create a concentrate to ship to a third-party plant and extraction facility for further processing.

SOURCE:

Leveraging SRC’s Rare Earth Facility

In August 2020, the Saskatchewan government announced C$31 million in funding for a Rare Earths processing facility in Saskatoon that will be owned and operated by the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC).

The SRC facility will be the first-of-its-kind in Canada and will establish an REE supply chain in Saskatchewan.

In February, Appia announced that bench-scale monazite processing and metallurgical testing had started at the SRC facility using sample materials from Appia’s Alces Lake property and SRC’s current Separation Pilot Plant.

The goal of the test is to process monazite-bearing rocks from the property to determine the ease of metallurgical processing and recovery of REE end products.

The testing results will be a factor in determining the economic viability of the project and are expected to take at least three months before a report is issued by SRC to Appia.

REE Solvent Extraction Process at the SRC Facility in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

SOURCE:

Shifting Towards a Green Economy

North American and European economies are focused on developing more environmentally friendly (“green”) economies by shifting to low-carbon power generation and renewable energy, including solar and wind, as well as the swing from fossil fuel to electric vehicles. REE play a critical role in these industries.

Last year, the governments of Ontario and Canada announced plans to each spend C$295 million to help Ford upgrade its assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario to start making electric vehicles.

But it is not just the green economy that requires these metals, they are critical in specialized alloys and magnets for airplanes, computer and military systems, high-speed transit, and satellites. A secure supply chain has become of strategic importance.

Governments Focusing on Critical Metals that Include REE

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, China produced approximately 85% of the world’s rare earth oxides and 90% of rare earth metals, alloys, and permanent magnets in 2019.  This dominance is a concern for other governments and businesses that want to ensure a stable supply of critical metals.

In 2018, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior published a list of 35 critical minerals or mineral material groups and voiced their concerns about their dependence on imports to meet the demand and supply chain risk due to the source concentration of just one or two countries.

The U.S. Defense Logistics Agency, a combat support agency in the U.S. Department of Defense that manages the global supply chain, currently stores 42 commodities, including chromium, cobalt, iridium, palladium, platinum, and zinc, with a current market value of over $1.1 billion.

In March, the rare earth’s and critical minerals sectors received another boost as the Canadian government unveiled its “Critical Minerals” list that included 31 minerals the government considers “essential to Canada’s economic security, required for Canada’s transition to a low-carbon economy, and a sustainable source of critical minerals for our partners.”

The mineral list was comprised of base metals, battery metals, energy metals, and other elements, including aluminum, cobalt, copper, gallium, lithium, nickel, niobium, REE, uranium, and zinc.

The government of Canada wants Canadian mining to become a global leader and supplier of choice and plans to support Canadian critical mineral projects with policy development, coordinate international engagements, and strengthen research & development in the sector.

Canada’s list reaffirms its alignment with the U.S. on its list of “Minerals Deemed Critical to U.S. National Security and the Economy” and Canada’s commitment to a “critical minerals” cooperation agreement that was initiated in 2019 and currently in the working-group phase.

Final thoughts

Appia’s planned financing should strengthen its Balance Sheet and fund its exploration plans for 2021.

In addition, Appia is not a one-trick pony as it holds exploration rights to 656 square km (162,104 acres) in Saskatchewan, including the Alces Lake, Eastside, Loranger, and North Wollaston properties, and over 125 square km (31,000 acres) of prospective REE and uranium deposits in the Elliot Lake area of Ontario.

If you think it’s time to add some REE exposure to your portfolio, Appia might be a candidate to add to your watchlist.

Appia closed yesterday at C$0.65 with a Market Cap of C$63.4 million.

In this episode of InvestorIntel’s Critical Minerals Corner with Jack Lifton, Jack talks about geopolitical issues with China and how regionalism is going to affect not just the interest and demand for rare earths, but for all critical minerals.

In this InvestorIntel video, which may also be viewed on YouTube (click here to subscribe to the InvestorIntel Channel), Jack went on to say that the Chinese dominance of the rare earths space has set off alarm bells not just in the US but also in EU and Canada. “I see the security of the supply of critical materials becoming a regional issue in this world,” he added. Jack highlighted that Canada is going ahead faster than the US in the critical materials space by developing several rare earths deposits for production and building the first full-scale rare earths separation plant in Saskatchewan.

To watch the full video, click here

In a recent InvestorIntel interview, Jack Lifton spoke with Tom Drivas, CEO and Director of Appia Energy Corp. (CSE: API | OTCQB: APAAF) and Appia’s newly appointed President, Frederick Kozak about the Alces Lake Project that has some of the highest-grade monazite-based rare earths and gallium mineralization in the world.

In this InvestorIntel interview, which may also be viewed on YouTube (click here to subscribe to the InvestorIntel Channel), Tom went on to say that Appia has started a bench-scale monazite processing and metallurgical testing at the Saskatchewan Research Council to produce a mixed REE carbonate from monazite-bearing rocks.

Monazites are rich in magnetic rare earths but are radioactive because of the presence of uranium and thorium. Jack pointed out that “Appia could be the only company in Canada which can address monazite as the feedstock.” He added that with SRC capable of handling the radioactivity “the world is going to see a revival of the Canadian rare earths industry but with a new emphasis on monazite.”

To watch the full interview, click here

About Appia Energy Corp.

Appia is a Canadian publicly-listed company in the uranium and rare earth element sectors. The Company is currently focusing on delineating high-grade critical rare earth elements (“REE”) and uranium on the Alces Lake property, as well as prospecting for high-grade uranium in the prolific Athabasca Basin on its Loranger, North Wollaston, and Eastside properties. The Company holds the surface rights to exploration for 65,601 hectares (162,104 acres) in Saskatchewan.

The Company also has a 100% interest (subject to a 1% Uranium Production Payment Royalty and a 1% Net Smelter Return Royalty on any precious or base metals payable, provided that the price of uranium is greater than US$130 per pound) in 12,545 hectares (31,000 acres), with rare earth element and uranium deposits over five mineralized zones in the Elliot Lake Camp, Ontario. The Camp historically produced over 300 million pounds of U₃O₈ and is the only Canadian camp that has had significant rare earth element (yttrium) production. The deposits are largely unconstrained along strike and down dip.

To learn more about Appia Energy Corp., click here

Disclaimer: Appia Energy Corp. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.

Appia Energy Corp.‘s (CSE: API | OTCQB: APAAF) (‘Appia’) stock price has been on a tremendous run the past year, up 364%, as shown below. Today I take a look at why the stock has done so well, and what’s next for Appia Energy, potentially soon to be renamed Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp. (retaining the same stock tickers).

Appia Energy Corp. 1 year stock price performance

Source

The reasons why Appia has had a great past year are multiple but would include:

1. Rising prices for rare earths, and to a lesser degree uranium.
2. Greater recognition by investors on Appia’s potential.
3. Successful exploration by Appia on their Alces Lake project and progress towards next stage development.

Regarding higher rare earth prices, on March 3, 2021 Appia stated:

“In the oxide form, the Shanghai Metals Market quoted February 28 prices per kg in US$ are: Nd $105, up over 100% year over year (“YoY”), Pr $74.95 up over 18% in one month, Dy $424.95 up nearly 100% YoY, Tb $1468.02 up nearly 200% YoY. There is an unusually high concentration of gallium at Alces Lake compared with other deposits and the price of Gd Oxide increased by 18% in one month to $35.93.”

A lot of investors may not yet know about the surge in rare earth prices, but here at InvestorIntel, we have been warning for some time to expect higher prices for critical metals. This is because we are just at the beginning of a new era of renewable low carbon energy (wind, solar, nuclear) and electric vehicles (EVs), which all need critical metals.

This leads to the reason for Appia’s proposed name change. Appia Energy is focused on rare earths (Alces Lake Project) and uranium (Athabasca Basin uranium prospects).

Appia state the reason for the name change as:

“In order to better identify the Company’s focus on the Alces Lake Project and the Athabasca Basin uranium prospects. The Property hosts some of the highest-grade total and critical rare earth elements (“CREE”) and gallium mineralization in the world. CREE is defined here as those rare earth elements that are in short-supply and high-demand for use in permanent magnets and modern electronic applications such as electric vehicles and wind turbines, (i.e: neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr) dysprosium (Dy), and terbium (Tb)).”

Appia’s Alces Lake Project (100% owned)

The Alces Lake Project is unique for its exceptional high grade rare earths (2nd highest globally with average grade 16.65 wt% TREO and 3.85 wt% CREO) hosted in the favorable monazite ore. Critical rare earth elements (‘CREE’) at the Alces Lake Project include neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr) dysprosium (Dy), terbium (Tb). There is also considerable gallium (Ga). The property has huge potential exploration upside, over a 45 km regional trend, as less than 1% of the Property has been explored with diamond drilling.

Note: TREO is Total Rare Earth Oxides and CREO is Critical Rare Earth Oxides.

Appia Energy Corp.’s Alces Lake has the 2nd highest global average grade at 16.65 wt% TREO hosted in monazite ore (some super high grade zones shown below)

Source

The Alces Lake project area is 17,577 hectares and is 100% owned by Appia. The project is located close to an old mining camp with existing support services, such as transportation (15 km from the nearest trail), energy infrastructure (hydroelectric power), a 1,200 m airstrip that receives daily scheduled services and access to heavy equipment.

The Property is located in Saskatchewan, the same provincial jurisdiction that plans to develop a “first-of-its-kind” rare earth processing facility in Canada, scheduled to become operational in 2022. This means Appia may have the opportunity to fast track early stage production of rare earths, at a low CapEx. I wrote about that previously here. Appia state: “Appia would “ideally” consider a surface and near-surface operation to start production, smaller than open pit scenario, easier to permit and manage, potentially low CAPEX/OPEX.”

Appia’s goal is to maintain a small environmental foot-print with a possible low CapEx start and initially use the Saskatchewan Research Council Rare Earths Processing facility in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Source

What’s ahead for Appia Energy in 2021

Appia plans to continue to further rapidly develop their Alces Lake Project under newly appointed President Mr. Frederick Kozak. Mr Kozak is a highly experienced capital markets and resource executive with a background in geological engineering, business, and as an equities analyst at Canaccord Genuity & Haywood Securities. This boosts the team at Appia as they expand exploration and begin the next steps towards production.

During the Summer of 2021, Appia intend to drill in excess of 5,000 metres at their Alces Lake Project with a goal to further grow their rare earths resource, in particular, to potentially discover further high grade rare earth oxide occurrences. Appia has also commenced bench-scale metallurgical testing at the SRC facilities. The intent is to refine the extraction process to separate the rare earths oxide and ultimately produce Nd and Pr oxides, gallium oxide, as well as uranium oxide.

Appia also intend to further exploration for high-grade uranium in the prolific Athabasca Basin on Appia’s Loranger, North Wollaston, and Eastside properties.

Closing remarks

Appia Energy now has a new President, and if approved on May 18, 2021, will change its name to Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp.

After a blockbuster past year Appia is now positioning for a solid 2021. If things go well I would expect we would also see an upgrade from the CSE to the TSXV, and a further re-rating for Appia.

In a recent InvestorIntel interview, Tracy Weslosky speaks with Geoff Atkins, Managing Director of Vital Metals Limited (ASX: VML), about the market interest in Vital Metals and signing a binding term sheet with the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) to negotiate a definitive agreements for the construction and operation of a rare earth extraction plant.

In this InvestorIntel interview, which may also be viewed on YouTube (click here to subscribe to the InvestorIntel Channel), Geoff started, “We are moving full steam ahead towards getting into production at Nechalacho Project in 2021.” He continued by saying that Vital Metals is closest to production in the rare earths space which draws a lot of interest, he mentioned, only one rare earths project went into production in the last decade.

Geoff also commented on the Vital Metals’ binding term sheet with the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC). He said, “The Saskatchewan Research Council has a lot experience with rare earths and we have agreed with them that they will build and operate a rare earths extraction plant for us.”

To watch the full interview, click here

About Vital Metals Limited:

Vital Metals is an explorer and developer with highly prospective mineral projects, focusing on the world-class rare earth Nechalacho project in Canada. They plan to commence production at Nechalacho in 2021, and aims to produce a minimum 5,000 tonnes of contained REO by 2025. Vital Metals aims to become the lowest cost producer of mixed rare earth oxide outside of China by developing one of the highest grade rare earth deposits in the world and the only rare earth project capable of beneficiation solely by ore sorting. Vital’s other projects include the high-grade Wigu Hill rare earth resource in Tanzania.

To learn more about Vital Metals Limited, click here

Disclaimer: Vital Metals Limited is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.

In a recent InvestorIntel interview, Tracy Weslosky speaks with Greg Andrews, President, CEO, and Director of Search Minerals Inc. (TSXV: SMY), about the electrification of vehicles and their collaboration agreements with the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) and USA Rare Earth.

In this InvestorIntel interview, which may also be viewed on YouTube (click here to subscribe to the InvestorIntel Channel), Greg started, “The recent Canadian government’s, the US government’s, the EU government’s rule on electrification and reducing internal combustion vehicles is a push in the right space for electrification which of course uses rare earth magnets.” He continued by saying that in the last year the OEMs have been investing a lot of capital in electrification of vehicles which again requires a secure supply chain of rare earths to make their business plans operable.

“The collaboration agreements with both SRC and USA Rare Earth is a critical next step for us to turn our product into oxides.” Greg said. He added that Search Minerals is exploring the proven Solvent Extraction Process with SRC and Continuous Ion Exchange process with USA Rare Earth to get their projects off the ground.

To watch the full interview, click here

About Search Minerals Inc.

Led by a proven management team and board of directors, Search is focused on finding and developing Critical Rare Earths Elements (CREE), Zirconium (Zr) and Hafnium (Hf) resources within the emerging Port Hope Simpson – St. Lewis CREE District of South East Labrador. The Company controls a belt 63 km long and 2 km wide and is road accessible, on tidewater, and located within 3 local communities. Search has completed a preliminary economic assessment report for FOXTROT, and a resource estimate for DEEP FOX. Search is also working on three exploration prospects along the belt which include: FOX MEADOW, SILVER FOX and AWESOME FOX.

Search has continued to optimize our patented Direct Extraction Process technology with the generous support from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, and from the Atlantic Canada Opportunity Agency. We have completed two pilot plant operations and produced highly purified mixed rare earth carbonate concentrate and mixed REO concentrate for separation and refining.

To learn more about Search Minerals Inc., click here

Disclaimer: Search Minerals Inc. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.

A likely Biden victory in the USA is positive for all the rare earths miners. This is because one of Biden’s key policies is a massive $2 trillion green infrastructure and jobs plan over his first term in office that aims to have a US carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035. This would be a huge tailwind for the US renewable energy sector (solar and wind) as well as supportive to the US electric vehicle (EV) industry. Any North American rare earths suppliers who can potentially supply the USA and/or Canada with rare earths would be likely to benefit as North America embraces the green revolution.

One rare earth miner worth considering is Search Minerals Inc. (TSXV: SMY) (“Search”). Search is focused on finding and developing critical rare earth element mineral assets in Labrador, Canada.

In some very exciting recent news Search has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC). The MOU outlines a collaboration with SRC as they build their Rare Earth Processing Facility in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Search Minerals President and CEO, Greg Andrews, commented: “We anticipate using the (SRC) conventional solvent extraction process to enable Search to validate the ability to produce the individual rare earth oxides necessary to enter the rare earth supply chain.

Recent announcements regarding building electric cars in Canada and other government led initiatives for clean and green technology provides the framework for industry access to a secure rare earth supply chain in Canada. We believe Search is well positioned to capitalize on these opportunities.”

Search controls properties in three areas of Labrador, Canada. These are:

• The Port Hope Simpson (PHS) Critical Rare Earth Element District in SE Labrador
• The Henley Harbour Area in Southern Labrador
• The Red Wine Complex located in Central Labrador

Search Minerals has nearby infrastructure in place at St. Lewis, Labrador, Canada

Source

Within the Port Hope Simpson District Search’s main discoveries are the Foxtrot Resource, Deep Fox, Fox Meadow, Silver Fox, and Awesome Fox deposits which contain rare earths including dysprosium (Dy), neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), terbium (Tb), yttrium (Y), zirconium (Zr), and hafnium (Hf).

The district covers a 63 km long and 2 km wide belt. At Foxtrot the total Indicated Resource is 7.392 million tonnes with grades of neodymium oxide (1,732ppm), neodymium (1,485ppm), praseodymium (397ppm), and dysprosium (191ppm). The 14 year Life of Mine (LOM) Foxtrot Project offers an IRR of 16.7% on an after tax Net Present Value (NPV) 10% of $48M, with a CapEx of only $152M. The NPV quoted above is only for the Foxtrot Project, so once the other projects are combined into a bigger project the NPV should improve.

At Fox Meadow, 2020 channel assay results outlined two mineralized zones on the surface: The NW zone is up to 175m wide and the SE zone is up to 116m wide. Combined, the mineralization is at least 790m long and contains similar grades of the REE magnet materials (Nd, Pr, Tb and Dy) as Foxtrot and Deep Fox. This is a good result as it means Search is continuing to find more REE mineralization to potentially further grow their resource.

At Silver Fox, Search has recently successfully expanded the Silver Fox high grade zirconium-hafnium (REE) mineralized zone. In the news release Search commented: “This surface expression is significantly longer, but thinner, than the surface expressions of the nearby and related Foxtrot and Deep Fox Resources. The mineralization is similarly hosted by peralkaline volcanic rocks and contains lower grades of the REE magnet materials (Nd, Pr, Tb and Dy) but significantly higher grades of Zr and Hf.”

At Awesome Fox, the 2020 channel program (7 new channels) along with previous channels has outlined a REE mineralized zone ranging from about 4-43m thick and 850m long.

Closing remarks

Earlier in 2020, rare earths expert Jack Lifton stated about Search Minerals: “I think it may well be Canada’s first commercial rare earth producer.” Given Search has completed a Resource estimate (Foxtrot, Deep Fox), a PEA (Foxtrot), has successfully produced 99% purity REO concentrate from their pilot plant and patented process, and now has a potential larger scale processing option with SRC; this all combines to suggest that Search Minerals is well on the way towards commercial production. Next steps would involve a BFS and potentially some trial production with SRC once their facility is built.

Search Mineral’s current market cap is only C$10.5M suggesting there may be plenty of upside potential ahead, especially if they continue to successfully advance towards production.

InvestorIntel’s Tracy Weslosky moderates a discussion with the Technology Metals Show host Jack Lifton and Appia Energy Corp.’s (CSE: API | OTCQB: APAAF) CEO, President and Director Tom Drivas on the Saskatchewan Research Council’s (SRC) plans to develop a “first-of-its-kind” Rare Earth Processing Facility in Saskatchewan, Canada.

In an InvestorIntel interview that can also be viewed on our InvestorIntel YouTube channel, Jack started, “This is the first time it has been done in North America,” he continued, “The Canadian companies that are associated with the SRC are going to be the leading companies in Canada in the rare earths space.”

Tom went on to say that Appia has a high-grade rare earths project in Saskatchewan. “Having a rare earths processing plant in Saskatchewan, in the same area where we are and in the same jurisdiction, is a game changer,” he added. Tom also explained how the processing facility is going to benefit Appia Energy and its shareholder.

To watch the full interview, click here

To learn more about Appia Energy Corp., click here

Disclaimer: Appia Energy Corp. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.