Northern Uraniums HREE Browns Range Project Looks Promising

Published on Tuesday Oct 12 2010

Positive Early Results from HREE 

Browns Range Project

Northern Uranium (ASX: NTU) has rewarded shareholders who participated in last month’s renounceable rights issue with the conformation of mineralisation which identifies Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREE) at Browns Range/

The HREE anomalies will be tested by further exploration activities commencing later this month, along with proposed field work to more accurately define drill targets.

Rock chip samples have been collected from the Wolverine, Gambit and Area 5 North Prospects, to allow Northern to commence a small scale characterisation study of the mineralisation.

The study will investigate the separation and recovery characteristics of rare earths from the Browns Range xenotime mineralisation.

This information is essential in determining the viability of the project.

Northern said initial sizing results are favourable and indicate the liberation size of the mineralisation may be in the relatively coarse at the 100-200 microns range.

With the onset of the northern wet season expected in November, it is anticipated that drilling will commence at Browns Range in the first quarter 2011. 

KNOW YOUR RARE EARTHS

Light rare earths -- more abundant

Lanthanum (uses: hybrid engines, metal alloys)

Cerium (auto catalysts, oil refining)

Praseodymium, samarium and gadolinium (magnets)

Neodymium (laptop hard drives, hybrid engines, wind turbines)

Europium (provides red colour for TV, computer screens)

Heavy rare earths -- less abundant

Terbium (phosphors, magnets)

Dysprosium (magnets, hybrid engines)

Erbium (phosphors)

Yttrium (fluorescent lamps, ceramics, metal alloys)

Holmium (glass colouring, lasers)

Thulium (medical X-rays)

Lutetium (petroleum refining)

Ytterbium (lasers, steel alloys)

Geologist Analysis Of Browns Range 

HREE Formation

The rock formation at Browns Range is Arkose (pronounced arkous). 


1 Arkose is a detrial formed from particles of pre-existing rock through weathering and erosion. To be defined it must contain at least 25% Feldspar. Usually it is up to 60% plus quartz, which as we know is a crystal. In simple terms Arkose is a relatively soft sandstone rock generally surrounded by its own sand. Uluru is an Arkose rock.

2 The Feldspar group of minerals are a family of silicates of over 20 members, which occur in igneous rocks. Feldspars crystallize from magma (molten rock in the earth's crust) into the sandstone as veins and are readily identified in the photographs shown in NTU literature (clusters and light brown in colour). See photograph on Wikipedia. Xenotime is part of the Feldspar group.

3 Xenotime is a rare phosphate mineral whose major component is yttrium orthophosphate (ypo4). It forms into a solid solution and may contain traces of arsenic as well as silicon dioxide and calcium in its final composition.

4 The expressive secondary components of Xenotime are the heavy rare earths dysprosium, erbium, terbium and yterbium and may sometimes contain metal elements like thorium and uranium (all replacing yitrium). Occasionally gemstones are also cut from the finer xenotime crystals. NTU continually provide %-components of these HREE in their reports to shareholders.

FLOTATION BENEFICIATION TECHNIQUE

First of all think coal mining. The coal is removed from the mine and crushed. The dirt is separated from the coal using a water wash medium. Then through a series of processes using water chemicals carbolic acid an alkali metal or ammonium salt thereof the coal is cleaned. Flotation beneficiation has resulted in a better product freer of impurities and thus more marketable.

Northern Metals believe using a related process they can remove the xenotime from the arkose at the mining site and thus provide a concentrated material suitable for refinement - a compound of heavy rare earths that can be easily transported

For some ideas on how such a process would work, google the word HYDROCLONE and look at some of the engineered hydroclone systems from chemindustrial situations. The process and equipment is much more advanced to that used in the early days of coal cleansing.

Take special Note that early indications are that between 65-75% of Northern Uranium's Brown Range, Rare Earth Project consists of more valuable HREE(Heavy Rare Earth Elements)

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