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A MINING INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE
Curt Freeman, Avalon Development Corp.
STRATEGIC AND CRITICAL METALS IN ALASKA A MINING INDUSTRY - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
STRATEGIC AND CRITICAL METALS IN ALASKA A MINING INDUSTRY - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
STRATEGIC AND CRITICAL METALS IN ALASKA A MINING INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE Curt Freeman, Avalon Development Corp. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My personal thanks to my staff and to all of the web sites and publications from which I shamelessly
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THE MAIN THING IS TO KEEP THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING
Steven Covey
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WHAT IS A STRATEGIC MINERAL?
A strategic mineral is a mineral that would be needed to supply the military, industrial, and essential civilian needs of the United States during a national
- emergency. Furthermore, strategic
minerals are not found or produced in the United States in sufficient quantities to meet this need.
Data from Critical Minerals Conf., 2012
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WHAT IS A CRITICAL MINERAL?
A critical mineral can be regarded as critical only if it performs an essential function for which few or no satisfactory substitutes exist. Examples include Rare Earths, Lithium, Platinum group elements, High purity quartz, Antimony, Rhenium, Beryllium, Tantalum, Cobalt, Tellurium, Niobium, Tungsten, Gallium, Yttrium, Germanium.
Data from Critical Minerals Conf., 2012
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ALASKA IS GEOLOGICALLY PROSPECTIVE
Data from Avalon Development, 2012
Element # of Prospects Gold 4,568 Tungsten 531 Molybdenum 499 Mercury 347 Sn-Ta-Nb 332 Chromium 264 Bismuth 198 REE 156 U-Th 155 Cobalt 142 Thallium 111 Beryllium 55 Vanadium 39 Tellurium 29 Indium 2 Scandium 2
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Graphite Cr (Graphite) Salt Chuck (PGEs) Ray Mts. (Sn, REEs) Bokan (REEs) MAN (Ni, PGEs) Snettisham (Ti, Fe) Red Dog (In) Tonsina (Ni, PGEs) Salmon Bay (REEs) Bornite (Co)
Data from Avalon Development, 2012
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Data from Avalon Development, 2012
ALASKA PLAYERS
- REEs: Ucore Rare Metals at Bokan and Ray
Mountains project; Contango ORE at Salmon Bay and Stone Rock Bay
- PGEs: Pure Nickel at MAN and Salt Chuck;
Pacific North West at Tonsina
- Graphite: Graphite One at Graphite Creek
- Other: Arrowstar at Snettisham (Ti); Teck at
Red Dog (In); NovaCopper at Bornite (Co); Ucore at Ray Mts. (Sn)
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YOU CAN AVOID REALITY BUT YOU CAN’T AVOID THE CONSEQUENCES OF AVOIDING REALITY
AYN RAND
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Data from Avalon Development, 2012
GLOBAL ECONOMIC CHALLENGES
- The small volumes of strategic/critical
minerals utilized make them extremely price sensitive
- New producers need to “steal” a reliable,
long-term buyer from existing producers
- Long-term buyers require fixed price
schedules, but operating costs are variable
- Monopolies/oligopolies often drive out
marginal producers by over-supplying the market until competition is eliminated
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100 10099 99 98 90 89 89 88 87 87 85 83 80 78 76 76 75 75 73 69 68 63 60 56 53 47 42 41 39 36 36 35 35 27 24 22 21 20 20 40 60 80 100 120
A R S E N I C A S B E S T O S B A U X I T E C E S I U M F L U O R S P A R G R A P H I T E I N D I U M M A N G A N E S E M I C A S H E E T N I O B I U M Q U A R T Z C R Y S T A L S R A R E E A R T H S R U B I D I U M S C A N D I U M S T R O N T I U M T A N T A L U M T H A L L I U M T H O R I U M Y T T R I U M G A L L I U M I O D I N E G E M S T O N E S G E R M A N I U M B I S M U T H D I A M O N D P L A T I N U M A N T I M O N Y R H E N I U M S T O N E P O T A S H V A N A D I U M B A R I T E S I L I C O N C A R B I D E T I N C O B A L T S I L V E R Z I N C T I T A N I U M S P O N G E T I T A N I U M C O N C . P E A T C H R O M I U M P A L L A D I U M M A G N E S I U M N I C K E L S I L I C O N N I T R O G E N A M M O N I A G A R N E T G O L D T U N G S T E N C O P P E R M A G N E S I U M M E T A L P E R L I T E S U L F U R S A L T B E R Y L L I U M M I C A S C R A P V E R M I C U L I T A L U M
% Import Reliance
Data from USGS, 2012
U.S. IMPORT RELIANCE – 2011
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Data from USGS, 2008
RARE: CRUSTAL ABUNDANCE THE CASE FOR ARSENIC
ARSENIC (2.1 ppm Avg Crustal Abund.)
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Data from USGS, 2012
WHO WANTS TO PRODUCE?
- The U.S. imports 100% of the arsenic it uses
for domestic purposes (~4,000 tpy)
- Arsenic is not rare from a crustal
abundance standpoint, nor does it have a high unit value in the market place ($1.75/kg)
- Arsenic is a common waste by-product in a
number of ore deposit types mined in the U.S.
- The cost:benefit ratio of recovering arsenic
from an arsenic-rich deposit is too high in the U.S. (and many other countries)
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Data from Avalon Development, 2012
ALASKA-CENTRIC CHALLENGES
- Alaska’s limited access, infrastructure and
energy systems require higher unit value ore to make projects cost competitive
- Alaska’s higher environmental standards
will increase costs and the time it takes to move from discovery to production
- Much of the most prospective geology for
strategic and critical minerals in Alaska is closed to mineral entry
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Data from Burton, 1981
ROY CREEK GEOCHEM
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Data from Avalon Development, 2012
STRAT-CRIT CONCLUSIONS
- Alaska’s geology is highly prospective
for a wide variety of strategic and critical minerals
- Prospects with high unit value rock
will be preferentially targeted by industry
- Prospective districts with good
access, infrastructure and energy systems will be preferentially targeted by industry
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IT WASN’T RAINING WHEN NOAH BUILT THE ARK
HOWARD RUFF
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Photo by Avalon Development Corp.