Neo Performance to acquire rare earth project in Greenland
Hudson Resources has announced that the company and Neo Performance Materials (TSX: NEO.TO) have executed a binding agreement whereby Neo will acquire from Hudson an exploration license covering the Sarfartoq Carbonatite Complex in southwest Greenland.
The company said that the project hosts a mineral deposit that is enriched in neodymium and praseodymium, two essential elements for rare earth permanent magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and high-efficiency electric motors and pumps that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Located just 60 kilometers from the international airport in Kangerlussuaq, the project is close to tidewater and a major port facility and is directly adjacent to some of the best hydroelectric potential in Greenland, Hudson added.
The license covers the large Sarfartoq carbonatite complex that hosts Hudson’s ST1 REE project and the Nukittooq Niobium-Tantalum project. The REEs on the property have a high ratio of neodymium and praseodymium at 25%-40% of Total Rare Earth Oxides.
Hudson completed a Preliminary Economic Assessment on the ST1 project in November 2011 that outlined a National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource containing 27 million kilograms of neodymium oxide and 8 million kilograms of praseodymium oxide.
Three kilometers east of the ST1 Zone is another high-grade zone (ST40) that hosts one of the rare earth industry’s highest-known ratios of neodymium oxide to Total Rare Earth Oxide. Neo, through a special purpose entity (“SPE”), plans to explore and develop the Sarfartoq project to further diversify its global sourcing of rare earth ore and to expand the rare earth supply chains that feed Neo’s rare earth separation facility in Estonia.
