Costs reduced for Greenland rare earths project

Perth-based rare earths developer Greenland Minerals has significantly reduced the estimated cost of developing the Kvanefjeld project in Greenland after optimising its feasibility study.

The estimated capital cost of the project, including a refinery circuit, has decreased by 40pc to $505mn. Expected output has also been increased by 8pc to 32,000 t/yr of rare earth oxide over a period of 37 years.

The output will include around 6,000 t/yr of magnet metals used for permanent magnets in electric vehicles and energy storage systems, comprising 5,692 t/yr of neodymium and praseodymium, 270 t/yr of dysprosium and 44 t/yr of terbium oxide.

The capital cost savings have come from adjustments in flowsheet design, a more efficient leaching circuit and plans for smaller volumes of higher-grade concentrate. Processing savings have also been implemented by Chinese shareholder Shenghe Resources, a major rare earths producer and value-adder. Operating costs have been reduced to below $4/kg of rare earth oxide after by-products credits.

Kvanefjeld has an ore reserve of 108mn t and a mineral resource of 1.01bn t, making it the world's largest undeveloped rare earths deposit.

"With the completion of this optimisation programme, we have a project with a smaller footprint producing more rare earths at a lower operating cost, which requires significantly less capital for development," managing director John Mair said.