February 19, 2012 — Peter Cashin, President and CEO of Quest Rare Minerals (TSX: QRM | NYSE MKT: QRM), in an interview with Tracy Weslosky, Publisher of ProEdgeWire, spoke about the current shift on engineering work and the doubling of the resource estimate at what is one of the largest deposits of Heavy Rare Earths (HREE) in the world. Cashin said the increased estimate, as compared to the one originally announced in 2011, resulted from using “much tighter drill spacing”. In addition, said Cashin, “we’ve now identified and firmed up what we consider the enriched zone or the very high grade upper portion of the resource, which will allow us to focus our initial production on, and accelerate the cash flows related to the project”.
One of the central points in the interview concerns the metallurgical extraction process. Cashin highlighted that Quest employs “a very strong team of metallurgists and metallurgical engineers that have been advancing all aspects of the metallurgical flow-sheet. In 2013, the Company expects to complete the mini-pilot plant work in Mississauga “converting the information we’ve learned from that process into a demonstration level processing plant”.
Disclaimer: Quest Rare Minerals is a member of ProEdgeWire.
I am a small investor holding shares in QRM
Question can you explain why prices for HREE’s are so low.
Do you feel that HREE’s over the next 5 – 20 years will still be in demand. I just cannot understand why they are all performing badly.
Terry -
Thank you for your commentary. Here’s the challenge: whose your source for HREE prices?
The real challenges is that pricing is not a science in rare earths — it’s an art. Pricing is simple: the supplier gets paid what the end user is willing to pay. This said, it makes it very difficult for those of us wanting more analysis to truly understand what our stock — our rare earths may be worth.
For this reason, and many more — I believe an ETF option needs to be available. Investing in this sector* requires long term vision that the rise in innovative technologies that need rare earths will continue to drive demand.
Yes, I personally believe this.
(Note*: I am not a licensed investment advisor.)
Doesn’t Bloomberg have an ETF on rare earths?
Can Quest make it through the demonstration plant without raising more capital?
How does Quest’s proposed recycling of reagents compare to Molycorp’s planned reagent recycling with its (yet to be operational) chlor-alkali facility at Mountain Pass?
Is Quest planning to rely/pin its funding hopes on strategic partnerships, at least in significant part, as opposed to share issuance in order to raise the funds needed to build out its operation and get into production? Does Mr. Cashin see Bay Street and Wall Street as being “shut down” as a viable mechanism of getting the funding he needs?