Does ore from the Steenkampskraal REEs deposit in South Africa contain more LREEs or HREEs?
JH: That is an interesting point, actually. In technical terms, it would be considered a light deposit, because if you totaled up the percentages of the elements that are on the light side of the spectrum, it leans very heavily towards those. But it is extremely high grade; it is one of the highest grade deposits ever identified. For example, the largest Chinese mine, the Baiyun Obo mine near Baotou, Inner Mongolia, is also a light deposit. If memory serves, the grade is around a 6% deposit, quite good. The Chinese mine has 98% LREEs. Steenkampskraal has the highest concentration of rare earths identified anywhere at about 17%, and is only 90% LREEs. Even though this is a light deposit, every ton of raw ore you would pull out of Steenkampskraal would produce a very high volume of rare earth oxides. As a result, the production of heavies like dysprosium and terbium but also things like europium that is used in phosphors and semiconductors would be quite high. Be aware of that grade effe
JH: That is an interesting point, actually. In technical terms, it would be considered a light deposit, because if you totaled up the percentages of the elements that are on the light side of the spectrum, it leans very heavily towards those. But it is extremely high grade; it is one of the highest grade deposits ever identified. For example, the largest Chinese mine, the Baiyun Obo mine near Baotou, Inner Mongolia, is also a light deposit. If memory serves, the grade is around a 6% deposit, quite good. The Chinese mine has 98% LREEs. Steenkampskraal has the highest concentration of rare earths identified anywhere at about 17%, and is only 90% LREEs. Even though this is a light deposit, every ton of raw ore you would pull out of Steenkampskraal would produce a very high volume of rare earth oxides. As a result, the production of heavies like dysprosium and terbium but also things like europium that is used in phosphors and semiconductors would be quite high. Be aware of that grade effe
