Earlier this month, Peak Resources Ltd announce that “following an extensive global search and site evaluation process, the location of its proposed rare earth refinery has been selected at Tees Valley on the north east coast of the United Kingdom. Peak and its partners are developing the Ngualla Project in Tanzania into a low cost, next generation rare earth project strongly aligned to the high value, expanding magnet metal market.
The company has tailored its processing flowsheet to focus on the production of neodymium and praseodymium, which in 2015 accounted for 85% by value of the rare earths used in the permanent magnet market. To better position itself in this market a strategic decision has been made by the company to establish a rare earth refinery at a location with access to global shipping, cheap and reliable bulk reagent supplies (particularly hydrochloric acid and caustic soda), a skilled labour force, readily available power, water and environmentally sustainable options to dispose of tailings materials.