Name and Location
Zandkopsdrift rare-earth element project, Northern Cape, South Africa.

Client
Frontier Rare Earths and Korea Resources Corporation (Kores).

Project Description
Zandkopsdrift has one of the biggest total rare-earth oxides grade and the highest-grade rare-earth oxides of significantly advanced rare earths deposits outside China.

Envisioned is a standalone opencast mine, which will be mined by conventional free-dig and/or drill, blast and haul techniques, with minimal drilling and blasting required. The steady-state mining production target is one-million tons a year and the total separated rare-earth oxides target production rate is 20 000 t/y.

Infrastructure associated with the mine and process plant includes the upgrade of existing district roads from the surrounding towns to the mine.

The water supply to the mine will be provided by Frontier from demineralised water, piped 35 km from a desalination plant.

Turbogenerators will supply power using the on-site exothermic reactions within an on-site sulphuric acid production plant.

The desalination plant will be powered by diesel generators and the Saldanha separation plant will be supplied by State-owned power utility Eskom.

Value
$910-million, which includes capital expenditure requirements for the Zandkopsdrift mine, related infrastructure and services, land purchases, mine closure and rehabilitation provision, the upgrading of local district roads, the provision of the social and labour plan, as well as the Saldanha separation plant, with its related infrastructure and services.

Duration
Along with its strategic partner, Kores, Frontier intends to start rare earths production in 2016, with a target production capacity of 20 000 t/y of separated rare-earth oxides.

Latest Developments
TSX-listed Frontier Rare Earths expects to release the results of its prefeasibility study (PFS) early in 2014, after determining that it requires more testwork to improve the flow sheet.

Capital and operating costs of the mine, processing plant and related infrastructure are expected to be higher than the initial economic assessment in 2012, but will be partially offset by lower capital and operating costs for the rare earths separation plant.

The completed PFS was presented to the company for review during the third quarter. It identified several areas where engineering design and process improvements could be made that are expected to have a “potentially significant” positive impact on the estimated capital and operating costs of the Zandkopsdrift processing plant and the Saldanha separation plant.

Value engineering and process optimisation studies are currently under way. Other areas of improvement are also being investigated.

The company has also said that while it is initially planned that any process improvements recommended by the feasibility study testwork will be introduced during the feasibility study, it has decided that the positive impact is potentially big enough that it should be included in the PFS.

The proposed process improvements include a flow sheet that is expected to result in a higher proportion of higher-value critical rare earths and higher-purity products being produced through another rare-earth element recovery method and a new processing technology.

This will, in turn, lead to a basket price for Zandkopsdrift production at current free-on-board China prices of $44/kg, compared with an in situ basket price of $36/kg.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Venmyn SNC-Lavalin (PEA), Mintek and SGS Mineral Services (metallurgical flow sheet development), the MSA group (resource estimation), Sound Mining Solutions (mine design and schedule), Epoch Resources (design of tailings disposal facility), SNC Lavalin (separation plant engineering design and capital operating cost estimates) and DRA (engineering design and operating cost estimates for Zandkopsdrift).

On Budget and on Time?
Project is on schedule

Contact Details for Project Information
Frontier Rare Earths (South Africa), tel +27 21 446 6040 or email info@frontierrareearths.com.