Serra Verde, the developer of an integrated rare earth element (REE) mining and processing operation in Brazil, has begun commissioning the first phase of operations at its Pela Ema deposit, paving the way for commercial production to be achieved by year-end.
Phase 1 of the deposit will produce at least 5 000 t/y of rare earth oxide over 25 years, with the potential to increase capacity through plant optimisation.
Serra Verde notes that its mine will be the first scale operation outside Asia that will produce all four critical magnetic REEs - neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium - that are essential to manufacture permanent magnets.
“This makes Pela Ema a strategic asset within the emergent global magnet-producing value chains. The four magnetic REEs, for which demand is growing prolifically, are expected to constitute the vast majority of the value of the Serra Verde concentrate,” the company states.
Concentrate samples from the deposit have already been widely tested and accepted by major customers, with offtake agreements established for a large proportion of initial planned production.
The significant defined resource of Pela Ema facilitates a potential Phase 2 expansion, with the objective of doubling run-of-mine production before the end of the decade.