2023 Global Top 10 Most Potential Rare Earth Mines

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Rare earth mine is a mineral mainly composed of rare earth elements. Rare earth elements mainly include lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, etc. Rare earth elements exist in the form of minerals in geology, with three main states of existence:

As the basic constituent element of minerals, rare earths exist in the lattice of minerals in the form of ionic compounds, making them an essential component of minerals, such as monazite and bastnaesite.
As an impurity element in minerals, it is dispersed in rock forming minerals and rare metal minerals in the form of isomorphic substitution, such as apatite, fluorite, etc. It is adsorbed on the surface or between particles of certain minerals in an ionic state, such as various clay minerals, mica minerals, etc.
As impurity elements in minerals, they exist in the form of ionic compounds on the surface or between particles of minerals in an ionic state, such as apatite, fluorite, etc. Rare earth elements in this state are easily extracted.

According to data from the United States Geological Survey, in recent years, the global proven reserves of rare earth resources have remained at around 120 million tons, with a global rare earth reserve of 130 million tons in 2022. From the production situation, the global rare earth production showed an overall upward trend from 2018 to 2022, with a global rare earth production of 300000 tons in 2022, an increase of 3.4% compared to the same period in 2021. Through calculation, it can be concluded that the existing rare earth reserves have a recoverable lifespan of 400 years, which is much higher than 43 years for oil and 63 years for natural gas.

To build a new supply chain, mining companies are searching for rare earth deposits worldwide, but this mineral is difficult to extract from hard rock and has high processing costs. Recently, Mining Intelligence has sorted out global rare earth projects and listed the top 10 rare earth mines based on the total amount of rare earth oxides.

Order	Rare Earth Mine	Region	Company	Mine Type	Development Stage	Total Reserves（10000 tons）
1	Tanbrez	Canada	Rimbal	Alkaline Intrusive Rock	License Application	2820
2	St Honoré	Canada	Magris Resouces	Carbonatite	Final Exploration	1840
3	Kvanefjeld	Greenland	Energy Transition Resources	Alkaline Intrusive Rock	License Application	1020
4	Mrima Hill	Kenya	Pacific Wildcat Resources	Carbonatite	Final Exploration	610
5	Halleck Creek	United States	American Rare Earths	Alkaline Intrusive Rock	Final Exploration	470
6	Ashram Rare	Canada	Canada Commerce Resources	Carbonatite	Preliminary Economic Evaluation	470
7	Ngualla Rare	Tanzania	Peak Rare Earths	Carbonatite	License Application	460
8	Strange Lake	Canada	Torngat	Alkaline Intrusive Rock	Pre-Feasibility Study	440
9	Montviel	Canada	Geomega Resources	Carbonatite	Preliminary Economic Evaluation	390
10	Nechalacho	Canada	Avalon Advanced Materials	Alkaline Intrusive Rock	Pre-Feasibility Study	180

Table of Contents

1. Tanbrez Rare Earth Mine

The mineralization type of TANBREEZ rare earth mine is alkaline intrusive rock type, with a resource of 28.2 million tons. It is located in Greenland and is held by Rimbal, and is currently in the feasibility study stage.

Greenland has abundant rare earth resources, and currently the two main local development companies are Tanbrez Mining and Greenland Minerals.

The TANBREEZ project was initially taken over by the Australian company Rimbal Pty Ltd. in 2001. The company established its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tempriz Mining, in 2010. The company claims that the Tempriz rare earth mine project contains a large amount of rare earth elements, especially heavy rare earths such as dysprosium, which could potentially become the world’s largest rare earth deposit.

2. St Honoré Rare Earth Mine

The mineralization type is carbonate rock type, with Magris Resources having 18.4 million tons of rare earth mineral resources in Quebec, Canada, ranking second.

The rare earth mine is located 1 kilometer north of the niobium mine being produced by Magris Company. Magris is a leading high-performance materials company in North America, supplying 50% of the North American talc market and 10% of the global niobium market with its low environmental footprint and vertically integrated mining and manufacturing facilities located in the United States and Canada.

3. Kvanefjeld Rare Earth Mine

The mineralization type is alkaline intrusive rock type, with a resource of 10.2 million tons, located in Australia and held by Greenland Energy Transition Minerals. It is currently in the pre production stage.

In 2020, the company had initially obtained a license, but in 2021, the Greenland Parliament passed a bill prohibiting the exploration and development of radioactive minerals such as uranium, causing the project of uranium containing associated minerals to stagnate. Last year, the company sued the governments of Greenland and Denmark for this ban.

4. Mrima Hill Rare Earth Mine

The mineralization type is carbonate rock type, with a resource of 6.1 million tons, located in Kenya (East Africa) and held by Pacific Wildcat Resources in Canada. It is currently in the advanced exploration stage.

In 2018, the company was ordered to pay royalties to the government. The Kenyan government hopes to gain more benefits from the mining industry.

5. Halleck Creek Rare Earth Mine

The mineralization type is alkaline intrusive rock type, with a resource of 4.7 million tons, located in Wyoming, USA. It is held by US American Rare Earths and is currently in the advanced exploration stage. The company claims that the thorium content in the Halek Creek project is low, making it easier and more economical to select and smelt.

American Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: ARR) CEO Chris Gibbs stated that the company has confirmed a wide range of rare earth mineralization areas, reaching depths of 175.5 meters, further expanding the Halleck Creek project in Wyoming. This means an increase of 75.5% in drilling depth compared to the first drilling activity, with 27% of the rare earths containing high-value magnetic rare earth elements.

6. Ashram Rare Earth Mine

The mineralization type is carbonate rock type, with monazite and fluorocarbon cerium ore, containing a small amount of phosphoryttrium ore, with a resource amount of 4.68 million tons. It is located in Quebec, Canada, and is held by Canada Commerce Resources. It is currently in the pre economic evaluation stage.

Ashland is also one of the largest fluorite deposits in the world. The company produces concentrates with a total rare earth oxide content of over 45%, and the by-product is fluorite. Fluorite is very suitable for producing acid grade fluorite concentrate.

7. Ngualla Rare Earth Mine

The Ngualla Rare Earth Mine mineralization type is carbonate rock type, with a resource of 4.6 million tons, located in Tanzania and held by Peak Rare Earths. It is currently in the pre production stage. The company stated that initially it could sell concentrate products and is collaborating with the Tanzanian government to study downstream integrated development issues.

The Ngualla project in Tanzania is one of the world’s largest, highest grade, and lowest cost praseodymium neodymium projects. It is expected to operate for 26 years and produce 32700 tons of 45% rare earth concentrate annually, while the total amount of rare earth oxide with an average grade of 4.8% is 887000 tons.

8. Strange Lake Rare Earth Mine

The Strange Lake Rare Earth Mine mineralization type is alkaline intrusive rock type, with a resource of 4.4 million tons, located in Quebec, Canada. It is held by Torngat Company in Canada and is currently in the pre feasibility study stage.

The company released a preliminary economic evaluation of the project on December 16, 2019, with an estimated total investment of 615 million US dollars and a pre tax internal rate of return of 24%. It will be put into operation in 2024, with an annual production of 11150 tons of rare earth oxides. Last year, to advance the project, Tongate raised $50 million.

9. Montviel Rare Earth Mine

The Montviel Rare Earth Mine mineralization type is carbonate rock type, with a resource of 3.9 million tons, located in Quebec, Canada. It is held by Geomega Resources and is currently in the pre economic evaluation stage.

The preliminary drilling results confirm that Monteville is a world-class neodymium deposit. Geomeg Resources is a company that develops innovative technologies for the extraction and separation of rare earth and other critical metals. The company’s main project revolves around Innord’s rare earth separation technology.

10. Nechalacho Rare Earth Mine

The Nechalacho Rare Earth Mine mineralization type is alkaline intrusive rock type, with a resource of 1.8 million tons. It is located in Thor Lake in the McKinsey mining area of northwest Canada and is held by Avalon Advanced Materials. It is currently in the feasibility study stage.

Nicaracho is located 100 kilometers southeast of Yelonev, with a tertiary (proven, inferred, and speculated) ore resource of 94.7 million tons. The high-grade ore resources in the northern T section of Nicaracho are 101000 tons, with a light rare earth (LREO) grade of 9.01% (neodymium praseodymium content of 2.2%).