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What's the general process for the initial separation of unwanted dirt? I've worked in a zinc smelter a long time ago, the initial stage was roasting, heating t
by merek 2mo ago
What's the general process for the initial separation of unwanted dirt? I've worked in a zinc smelter a long time ago, the initial stage was roasting, heating the ore to 900C to burn off unwanted components (such as sulfur, which went on to become sulfuric acid), and to melt other components.
I guess I'm surprised at the absence of flue stacks and cooling towers at the facility shown in the video.
Perhaps the facility in the video only shows "cleaner" downstream processing for marketing appeal, or separation processes are fundamentally different?
- Animats 2mo ago60 Minutes had some coverage of the beneficiation plant.[1] For rare earths, that's mostly grinding and sorting by density and magnetic properties. It's a large plant near the mine. Bags of rare earth ore worth about $120,000 per pallet come out, and those are transported to the Texas location for the next step, which has a lot more heat and chemistry. [1] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/60-minutes_rareearths-activity-7441636828861861888-7X9E https://www.linkedin.com/posts/60-minutes_rareearths-activit...
- virtualwhys 2mo agoMP is well positioned in the REE processing space -- now if the share price would stop collapsing then companies in the critical minerals sector would be able to raise capital more easily (MP is the bellwether for the sector)
- ksec 2mo agoThanks. Now MP is on my radar.
- virtualwhys 2mo agoCertainly at $41, a 52 week low, it's a fire sale (hit $100 back in October.
- Animats 2mo agoThey're totally at the mercy of world rare earth prices, which are manipulated by China. But they now have some cushion from government and GM funcing.
- virtualwhys 2mo agoCollapse in MP, the minerals sector in general, and every high growth sector in the market is institutional derisking in the face of massive leverage ($1.4 trillion in margin loans), which has triggered an historic collapse in high beta stocks -- nothing to do with rare earth prices, particularly for MP which has guaranteed price floors. So,the big players have taken a wrecking ball to minerals by shorting the sector to oblivion, but will have no problem riding the wave back up once the bottom is in...
- Animats 2mo agoRight. Since the 1980s, the Mountain Pass mine has gone bankrupt and shut down twice. Not because they did anything wrong, but because the prices of rare earths temporarily dropped below their production cost. Here's a general rare earth price graph.[1] It's tough having a business with fixed costs with a 10:1 price variation. MP Minerals is now getting subsidies from both the U.S. Government and General Motors, both of which want a reliable source of magnets outside China. There are other sites in the US and Australia which could be developed if it was profitable. (Operating in Greenland, per Trump, is silly. The costs of operating anything big there are very high. No roads, no infrastructure, only a few months a year of ice-free construction time...) [1] https://www.mining.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/image-9-768x369.png https://www.mining.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/image-9-76...