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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: energyplay who wrote (66460)	9/25/2010 12:59:21 AM
From: energyplay	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 217573

Prediction : While in the next 3-4 years we may see only a few REE mines outside of China, probably Mountain Pass and the South African Monazite mines. However, there will be much more exploration for REEs, and in 3 years we will see the announcements of at least 6 major new orebodies, meaning at least 5 millions tons with a cut off grade of >1.5%. Why can I be so sure about this prediction ? ;-) Because very few geologists have seriously looked for rare earths in the past 35 years... Look at the first graph in this USGS paper - see the decline in "Other" production once China ramps and prices slide ? Low prices discourage exploration. Look also at the long period of dominance by Mountain Pass, when it was a low cost volume producer - that would also discourage exploration. Now geologists have more tools satellites, geochemical sampling, more and better magnetic surveys, better helicopters , etc. and more basic geological knowledge, including the records of explorers who noted REEs while looking to something else, like nickel, gold, uranium, moly, etc.

To: energyplay who wrote (66460)	9/25/2010 9:10:17 AM
From: Tommaso	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 217573

I realized that I really know nothing about rare earth elements (they don't figure in college chemistry courses), and I had a good profit for a few days' investment, and it was in my IRA where there are no taxes, and there does seem to be a big flurry of speculation over whether or not (the Wall Street Journal says NOT) China is actually restricting exports. So I decided to take my profit and study the subject some more.