By Kari Williamson
The rare earth elements company says it hopes to get the preliminary economic assessment (PEA) ready in early 2012 with a pre-feasibility study targeted for completion in early 2013 for the Round Top site.
Marc LeVier, CEO, says: “We continue to make considerable progress in advancing the exploration and resource definition efforts at our flagship, heavy rare earth Round Top Project. Round Top Mountain is a multi-metal deposit, unique in its geologic setting, and a massive host of heavy rare earth elements. Our drilling activity is progressing well and we recently awarded a contract for a core rig, which we expect to be on site in February. In anticipation of the core drilling, we have also established a core lab on site to support the geologic characterisation analysis and documentation required for a technical report/preliminary economic assessment (PEA).”
In the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year ending in 2012, Texas Rare Earth reported exploration and development expenses for Round Top of US$1.62 million. The company's net loss widened to US$2.83m.
Outlook FY 2012
“We believe essential applications of rare earth elements will continue to be identified, and that demand for clean energy and digital devices will continue to increase. Key to the successful development of projects such as Round Top will be to identify those deposits that can be recovered at the lowest cost possible.
“We remain on track to prove out the potential at Round Top, and have ambitious plans for de-risking and advancing this project. We have set forth an aggressive timeline for the company, bolstered by a pro-resources regulatory environment, excellent infrastructure and favourable climate conditions,” LeVier says.
“We believe that our strategic focus on the most critical and highest value heavy rare earth elements will position us to become a highly competitive and secure US-based source of heavy rare earths.”