Simon Moores, Managing Director of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence will provide the keynote address on “Battery Materials – The Importance of Understanding the Supply Chain.” ARPN followers will be familiar with Benchmark Mineral Intelligence’s work, which we have frequently featured on our blog, including Mr. Moores’s most recent testimony before a U.S. Senate Committee.

Dr. Gareth Hatch, CEO and Chairman of Innovation Metals Corp. and Chris Berry, President of Mountain House Partners, LLC, both of whom we have also featured on our site on several occasions over the course of the last few years.

Here are the coordinates for the seminar:

Date: Monday, March 4th
Time: 1:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. (Registration opens at 1:00 p.m.)
Location: Miller Thomson LLP, 40 King Street West, Suite 5800, Toronto, ON M5H 3S1

More details are available here.

Online registration has closed, but you can still register on-site. Check back on our blog for an update after the event.

The post Today: Three Members of ARPN Expert Panel to Discuss Battery Tech Materials and Supply Chains at Miller Thomson’s PDAC 2019 appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.

To clarify things, American Resources expert and Technology Metals Research co-founder Gareth Hatch has put together a helpful “Refresher on the Basics” of REE-terminology on his website.

Clearly, word choices matter. Says Hatch:

“As I always tell people – just make sure that you understand exactly which definitions a particular company is using, when looking at reported data which use one or more of the group names described above. In the meantime, let’s hope that certain of my fellow commentators on the rare-earth sector start to get the hang of the basic terminology for these materials…”

Read the full article here.

The post Terminology matters – Clearing up the REE confusion appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.

Referencing presentations by Gareth Hatch’s partner at Technology Metals Research, Jack Lifton, and other speakers at October’s Best of Breed Natural Resource Conference hosted by Murdock Capital, the piece stresses the importance of not only “maintaining a domestic supply of industrial metals, but also the need to preserve institutional memory within American mining.”

Speakers at the event argued that in the area of American strategic metals, there are “solid companies with highly attractive fundamentals.” They pointed to promising operations by three companies specifically, which focused on Copper, Nickel, Platinum and Palladium, Rare Earths, Vanadium.

Thanks to the resources beneath our own soil, the United States’ mineral potential is vast, but we are still far from maximizing it. Obstacles, especially in the form of regulatory challenges, remain. However, as Seeking Alpha argues:

“If any vestiges of the lumbering bureaucracy of government have caught on to the importance and profitability of such enterprises, it is undoubtedly a good sign. As the three companies prepare for production, they stand as intriguing long-term value plays for the risk tolerant investor.”

The post The potential of American strategic metals appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.

You can see who they are and reserve your spot by clicking here.

Here are just a few of the things that you’ll learn on this free webinar:

- Which specific rare-earth minerals are the most important for future production, and why;

- The radioactive impurities that no-one seems to talk about (hint: they’re not talking about uranium or thorium)

And MUCH more.

This is the first time that TMR has done a webinar of this type, so it’s sure to be popular – sign up now as places will be limited!

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The response by several industry experts, as cited by the Pittsburgh Tribune, is therefore less surprising. According to the Tribune, Ed Richardson, President of the U.S. Magnetic Materials Association, considers the Pentagon’s view to be “rather naïve” and “ill-informed. ” Meanwhile Jack Lifton, co-founder of Technology Metals Research, called the report: “so lame I can’t believe it,” adding that “the only way we can get that material right now is from a foreign company in China.”

Industry experts, including American Resources’ latest addition to our expert panel Jeffery Green, President and Founder of J.A. Green & Company, and Founder of the Strategic Materials Advisory Council point to particularly severe challenges associated with heavy rare earths, including dysprosium, as almost all new rare earths mining operations outside of China are focused on light rare earths.

While striking a more subtle tone than industry experts, we think Congressman Mike Coffman (R, Colo.) hits the nail on the head with his response to the Pentagon’s report:

China still controls the production of rare earth materials. Our long
term economic security absolutely depends on being able to establish a
domestic supply chain, but despite recent efforts, the U.S. has been 
unable to. I think the Department of Defense would be wiser to begin 
addressing this problem, instead of claiming everything is under 
control.

The post Experts: DoD’s dismissal of rare earths crisis “naïve” and “ill-informed” appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.

While many have talked about the case, few are actually familiar with the WTO’s mechanics. In his “initial analysis,” Hatch gives a detailed overview over the organization’s dispute process and how it would be applied in this case. Hatch further takes a look at various criticisms levied against the complainants, as well as China’s possible reactions, and outlines his view on possible outcomes of the dispute.

Read his full article “The WTO Rare Earths Trade Dispute: An Initial Analysis,” on the Technology Metals Research website. And, in case you’ve missed it, click here for American Resources principal Daniel McGroarty’s take.

The post American Resources Expert Commentary: Technology Metal Research’s Gareth Hatch on the WTO rare earths case appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.

On his website TechMetalResearch.com, American Resources expert Gareth Hatch cautions against “the now well-worn path of hype disguised as scientific (…) breakthroughs.” Hatch gives a number of reasons why this new magnetic material compound of manganese (Mn) and gallium (Ga) may not be all it’s cracked up to be. In a nutshell, according to Hatch, several of gallium’s properties do not lend themselves to substituting REE-based magnets anytime soon.

What is interesting to note, however, is that whether or not the material could replace REE-based magnets, it wouldn’t do much to alleviate supply concerns, as in some respects (and particularly from a U.S. standpoint with an import dependency rate hovering between 99% and 100% for all three), manganese, gallium, and REEs, are all “rare.” Substitution simply isn’t always a silver bullet.

The post A new “super strong magnetic material” to replace REE-based magnets? appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.

The discovery of near-surface mineralization and significant quantities of recoverable rare earth elements (REEs) in 2009 at Quest Rare Minerals’ Strange Lake property on the Quebec-Labrador border has moved from exploratory drilling to development drilling. A feasibility study is expected to be completed by the end of 2012, while Quest expects to start-up its pilot plant during the second quarter of 2012.

The project is expected to move forward at a steady pace as the Strange Lake mine is located in a “mining-friendly province that is enthusiastic about how [it] will fit comfortably within its multi-billion dollar Northern Plan, which is all about economic development in the northern part of Quebec,” says Quest’s President and CEO Peter Cashin.  The “Plan Nord” is a coordinated resource-development plan which, according to American Resources expert Gareth Hatch “could have far-reaching consequences for Canada, North America and the rest of the developed world.”

While our Northern neighbors are maximizing their resource potential, mining projects in the U.S. too often remain stuck in a maze of red tape and road blocks.  Isn’t it time we develop a coordinated resource-development strategy “South” of Nord?

The post Canada moves forward on promising Strange Lake REE project appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.

Dr. Butts serves as both Professor of Political Military Strategy and Director of the National Security Issues Group at the Center for Strategic Leadership, U.S. Army War College.  His expertise on strategic minerals and the role natural resources play for our national security make Dr. Butts a terrific fit for our expert panel.

Following extensive research in Southern Africa on strategic minerals, Dr. Butts authored a timely paper entitled “Strategic Minerals: Is China’s Consumption a Threat to United States Security?.” He has also organized and conducted international conferences and workshops on natural resources and security in the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

On November 2, Dr. Butts will join two other American Resources experts, Daniel McGroarty and Gareth Hatch, as a speaker at the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) conference “Rare Earths, Critical Metals, Energy and National Security,” an event you should bookmark if you’re in the Washington, D.C. area.

The post U.S. Army War College scholar joins American Resources expert panel appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.

The conference will discuss the link between rare earths, critical metals, energy, and national security. Although rare earths and critical metals have begun to attract attention for their high-tech and green-tech applications, this is the first metals conference to focus explicitly on the national security implications of resource supply.

Featured speakers will include Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, and Colorado Congressmen Doug Lamborn and Mike Coffman.  American Resources expert Gareth Hatch will present on the Rare Earths panel, while Dan McGroarty will moderate the Specialty Metals panel, building out from the Rare Earths to the broader group of rare metals with strategic value.

“Rare Earths, Critical Metals, Energy and National Security” will take place at the Capitol Hill Hyatt Regency in Washington D.C on November 2nd. To register to attend, please contact NCPA’s Carolyn Needham at: 202.220.3195 or Carolyn.needham@ncpa.org

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