India revs up rare earth production to join big league

In a few months India will find its way back on the global rare earth (RE) production map when its 10,000 tonnes Monazite processing plant in Odisha commences production.

“If everything goes as planned, the Odisha plant will be commissioned by December. We will carry out dry runs, and hopefully, start production early next year,” said RN Patra, CMD, Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL).

The plant — set up with an investment of Rs140 crore — is expected to produce 5,000 tonnes of RE oxides. “From nil production, we would be doing 4% of global production,” said Dr Patra. Around 2,250 tonnes of it will be separated at IREL’s Aluva facility in Kerala for domestic consumption and the rest will be exported.

But a major worry for IREL is competitive pricing. In 2004, cheap Chinese supply edged it out of the market. “The government realises this. Pricing is currently under discussion,” Dr Patra added.

Sources said there is steady progress on another 12,000 tonnes Monazite processing plant near Vizag, being set up with Toyota’s help. It is expected to yield high purity RE oxides, including Neodymium, that is used in permanent magnets.

Last month, China, for the first time since 2005, announced a 2.7% increase in its RE exports quota as compared to previous year, thus allowing a total of 30,996 metric tonnes in 2012. But, that may not make much difference since Chinese exporters haven’t anyway fully utilised export quotas in the past years — attributed to a slump in demand because of high prices, and smuggling of RE’s in China. Plus, global RE companies are now consciously reducing their dependence on Chinese RE’s.
US-based Molycorp Inc is reviving its Mountain Pass mine in California that shut down in 2002. The company’s projected production in 2012 is between ‘8,000 and 10,000 metric tonnes’. By the end of 2013, it expects to have a capacity of up to ‘40,000 metric tonnes per year’.

Lynas Corporation that owns the other big global RE asset — Mt Weld mine in Australia — is on the verge of starting production. Lynas has set up a RE separation facility in Gebeng, Malaysia. The plant is expected to supply 11,000 tonnes in its first year, with the target of reaching 22,000 tonnes. Its scheduled start has, however, been delayed because of opposition from political parties over radioactivity concerns.

RE production is also being revived in South Africa, Vietnam, Canada, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Center for Techno-Economic Mineral Policy Options (C-TEMPO) — a think tank under the ministry of mines, says Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Malaysia, Brazil, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Norway, Greece, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Madagascar, Mozambique and Egypt — are also producing RE’s.

“Most recently, it was discovered that Afghanistan may have large deposits of RE, estimated to be worth $89 billion,” said C-TEMPO.
A few weeks back, the Canadian government made a proposal to a visiting Indian ministry of mines team for prospecting REs in Canada. The proposal is being examined by the Atomic Minerals Directorate.

IREL is reported to be under an agreement with Japan’s Toyota Tsusho to supply 6,000 tonnes of RE oxides. Japan’s JOGMEC is also learnt to be partnering with India to explore and process REs.
Following a meeting (New Delhi, 2011), the Indian and Japanese PMs had ‘decided’ that their enterprises would jointly undertake “production and export of REs.” Sources said, negotiations at the diplomatic level have picked up.

Japan has been one of the worst hit by China’s export restrictions. Masaru Sato, assistant secretary, Japan’s foreign ministry told DNA that in 2010, 82 per cent of Japan’s RE imports came from China.

Joint development of RE’s is a “win-win economic cooperation,” Sato said, indicating that Japan would contribute technology, and India would supply RE’s that will help Japan ‘diversify’ its RE sources and maintain a “stable long term supply.”

The EU may also be exploring its options with India. “As part of the Raw Materials initiative, the EU maintains dialogues with resource rich countries across the world. EU companies will be interested in purchasing supplies from a variety of countries. As regards India, the EU is currently negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with India, where rules on both imports and exports of goods are discussed,” John Clancy, EU’s trade spokesman, told DNA through e-mail.