The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Metal Tech News - September 30, 2024
Rare Element Resources' Bear Lodge project in Wyoming offers a high-grade source of rare earths critical to high-tech, clean energy, and defense applications. Clockwise from top center: praseodymium, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, samarium, and gadolinium.
Layout of Rare Element Resources' rare earths processing and separation demonstration plant.
Following a few months of slowed progress due to inflationary pressures pushing the costs to build its rare earths processing and separation demonstration plant above budget, Rare Element Resources Ltd. says the critical minerals facility being installed just outside of Upton, Wyoming, is on track to begin operations by the end of the year.
Last November, the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy finalized a National Environmental Policy Act review for the plant, which was a major milestone for the Wyoming facility.
Layout of Rare Element Resources' rare earths processing and separation demonstration plant.
By July, however, Rare Element Resources reported that post-pandemic supply chain issues, inflation, and design refinements had driven up the costs and slowed development of the plant.
"Although we have taken extraordinary measures to control costs during the design, construction and soon to commence operation phases, the fact is, our first-of-its-kind rare earth element separation plant project has gone from concept to reality during a recovering economy and associated supply chain issues that has resulted in both schedule and cost challenges," said Rare Earth Resources President and CEO Ken Mushinski.
General Atomics, a global technology company that has partnered with Rare Element Resources, estimates that the costs to complete the plant will now come in at around $53.6 million, which is about 21% higher than originally budgeted.
To help cover these higher costs, Rare Earth Resources requested that DOE support the larger budget on the same cost-share basis as previously agreed. DOE has approved an increased federal budget of $24.2 million for the rare earths plant, which is about 11% higher than before.
"We are appreciative of the DOE's recognition of the significance of our plant to the U.S. domestic supply chain, and its willingness to provide additional cost-share to assist in offsetting the project cost growth," Mushinski said.
With DOE's approval of the additional funding, as well as confirmation of readiness to advance the rare earth processing and separation plant to operations, Rare Earth Elements just needs approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission under a previously issued license to finish installing the demonstration plant.
"In anticipation of the DOE's operations approval just received, we have spent the past several months working alongside the project team and our contractors preparing the site for operations," said Mushinski. "With the achievement of this pre-operational milestone and anticipated receipt of the NRC's license amendment necessary for operations, we continue preparations for the commencement of plant operations."
The demonstration plant is expected to generate the operational and economic data necessary to design a commercial-scale plant, which is an important part of Rare Earth Resources' plans to develop a mine at Bear Lodge rare earths project in northeastern Wyoming.
According to a calculation completed earlier this year, Bear Lodge hosts 6.02 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 4.08% (541 million lb) rare earth oxides.
Bear Lodge is not only large and high-grade but also happens to be enriched with neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and other rare earths that go into powerful magnets needed for electric vehicle motors, wind turbine generators, and countless other high-tech applications.
"The permanent magnet motor is what it is all about because the permanent magnet motor is the future of electric propulsion," said General Atomics Chairman Neal Blue. "Rare earths are essential to the permanent magnet as well as very advanced microprocessor technology where the feature size is reduced to near atomic levels."
A roughly 900-metric-ton sample of high-grade rare earths material from Bear Lodge will be used as feed for the demonstration plant equipped with proprietary rare earths processing and separation technology pioneered by General Atomics.
"Entering the operations phase moves us one step closer to proving our innovative rare earth recovery technology is ready for commercial applications," said Mushinski.
With more than 16 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration and technology metals.
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