Mount Weld
| Mount Weld | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| General information about the mine | |||
| Mining technology | Open pit | ||
| Information about the mining company | |||
| Operating company | Lynas Corporation | ||
| Funded raw materials | |||
| Degradation of | Rare earth | ||
| Geographical location | |||
| Coordinates | 28 ° 51 '36 " S , 122 ° 32' 52" E | ||
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| Location | Laverton | ||
| State | Western Australia | ||
| Country | Australia | ||
The Mount Weld is a mineral deposit that is mined. It is located approximately 30 kilometers south of Laverton and 120 kilometers east of Leonora in Western Australia . The mountain is home to the largest known deposit of rare earth metals outside of China . It is located in the eastern gold fields of Western Australia.
Rare earths mineralized in the Proterozoic Mount Weld in a volcanic vent filled with carbonatite . Rare earth minerals are formed when rocks get into the earth's crust under high pressure and temperature and solidify again.
The occurrence at Mount Weld, which was discovered in 1988, has a diameter of about 2.5 kilometers. In 2008, exploratory boreholes were drilled to a depth of 5,346 meters in the southern area of Mount Weld. The oxides of lanthanum , cerium , neodymium , praseodymium , samarium , dysprosium , europium and terbium can be broken down . The carbonatite chimney also contains niobium and tantalum , which are to be developed in the future.
The Mount Weld mining district is owned by Lynas , which is listed on ASX, Australia . The company has announced that it will continue to develop mining developments at Mount Weld. To finance this expansion, the US bank JP Morgan Lynas granted a loan of 450 million Australian dollars in 2009 .
The rare earth occurrence in Mount Weld is divided into two spatially adjacent development fields, the Central Lanthanide Deposit (CLD) and the Duncan Deposit. According to estimates from 2012, the CLD comprises 14.9 million tons of rare earth ore - above an exclusion limit of 2% rare earth oxide content - with an average content of 9.8%, corresponding to 1.46 million tons of rare earth oxides. The Duncan Deposit is currently estimated at 9.0 million tons with an average content of 4.8% rare earth oxides, corresponding to 431,600 tons, and according to the current status of the metal analyzes contains noticeably higher contents of heavier rare earths. Overall, the current estimates for the occurrence of rare earth minerals in Mount Weld are 23.9 million tons with an average content of 7.9%, corresponding to 1.9 million tons of rare earth oxides. In the meantime, Lynas Corp. In Mount Weld, a concentration plant for acidic ore digestion with an annual capacity of 11,000 tons of enriched rare earth oxides went into trial operation, which has a recovery rate of 70.6%. The expansion of the concentration plant to 22,000 tons has already started.
The Lynas Corporation started processing in a newly built plant in Kuantan , Malaysia in mid-2013 . The factory was originally due to open in early 2013 with an annual production of 22,000 tons. For this purpose, a supply contract was concluded with a Japanese company. A joint venture for the production of permanent magnets was founded with Siemens. Protests by the population about the fear of the release of radioactive thorium during the processing of the delivered rare earth concentrates have significantly delayed the approval and commissioning of the plant. In 2011, the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA) prepared an expert report with recommendations for measures to be taken. A provisional operating license by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board in Malaysia was only issued in September 2012 due to objections from the citizens' movement “Save Malaysia Stop Lynas”.
The state-owned Chinese raw materials company, China Non Ferrous Metal Mining , tried to buy shares in Lynas in 2009, which the Australian authorities did not allow. Since China will export 35 percent less rare earths in the next two years, the occurrence at Mount Weld is of great economic importance beyond Australia .
Web links
- Production of rare earths: Trouble about a prestige project - taz.de , February 2, 2013
- Aerial view of the mine: http://www.lynascorp.com/Pages/mount-weld.aspx
Individual evidence
- ^ Mt Weld, Western Australia. Information from Porter GeoConsultancy . Retrieved December 30, 2010.
- ↑ Information on www.infomine.com . Retrieved December 30, 2010.
- ↑ Overview on the website of Lynascorporation Ltd. Australia ( Memento of the original from September 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved December 30, 2010.
- ↑ Lynas acquires mining leases at Mt Weld. In: The Age, August 13, 2009. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated November 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Lynas Corporation website
- ↑ JP Morgan credit information ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved December 30, 2010.
- ↑ Quarterly Report of Lynas Corp. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Lynas Corp. 2012 Annual Report. ( Memento of the original from October 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
- ^ A b Thomas Utter: Rare earth metals: between panic and reality. ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. www.goldinvest.de, December 11, 2010. Accessed December 30, 2010.
- ↑ Siemens and Lynas want to set up a joint venture for the production of magnets. Publication July 7, 2011, Retrieved June 6, 2012.
- ^ Report of the International Review Mission on the Radiation Safety Aspects of a Proposed Rare Earths Processing Facility (the Lynas Project), 29 May - 3 June 2011, Malaysia (PDF; 249 kB). Retrieved June 6, 2012.
- ^ Lynas gets temporary operating license. ( Memento of the original from September 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on: New Straits Times. 5th September 2012.
- ↑ High-tech raw materials: China is releasing even fewer rare earths. ( Memento of December 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: Financial Times. Dated December 29, 2010. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
