JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Shanghai-listed rare earths company Shenghe Resources will acquire a 12.5% interest in Greenland Minerals and Energy (GMEL) and enter into a strategic working relationship with the Australia-listed company to advance the Kvanefjeld project.

Shenghe downstream processing subsidiary Leshan Shenge will spend A$4.625-million to acquire 125-million ordinary shares in Greenland at 3.7c a share, subject to Foreign Investment and Review Board approval.

Announcing the investment and strategic partnership on Friday, GMEL MD Dr John Mair said that Shenghe’s investment was a “very strong” endorsement of the Kvanefjeld project and the company’s strategy.

Shenghe will help to ensure that the project is optimised to integrate with downstream processing, and that customer networks are established. GMEL expects the project to benefit from Shenge’s technical expertise, processing capacity and strong international customer base.

“We have been looking to identify the right strategic partner for a number of years, and with Shenghe, we rapidly identified not just complementary assets and skillsets, but a fundamental alignment of strategy and timing. Shenghe has a strong international customer base, and is looking to continue to grow this area of their business.

“Together, we aim to integrate Kvanefjeld’s rare-earth output with existing and new downstream rare earth processing capacity, to generate an extremely cost-competitive and highly scalable rare-earth business,” Mair stated.

The Kvanefjeld project comprises several large multi-element deposits rich in rare-earth elements, uranium and zinc. Collectively, these deposits represent one of the world’s largest identified mineral resources of rare earths and uranium.  Kvanefjeld has a total resource base of 1.01-billion tonnes, containing 593-million pounds of uranium and 11.14-million tonnes of total rare earth oxides. Measured resources are estimated at 143-million tonnes.