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Highlights
- Strategic Impact: The project bolsters Western efforts to diversify rare earth sources.
- Significant Resource: Tanbreez site shows substantial heavy rare earth elements.
- Promising Economics: Favorable conditions and strategic location enhance project viability.
European Lithium Ltd (ASX:EUR) is making significant strides toward securing its position as a key supplier of heavy rare earths in the West, following a promising Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for its Tanbreez Rare Earth Project in southern Greenland.
The assessment, carried out in collaboration with Critical Metals Corp (NASDAQ:CRML), has underscored the project's economic viability and strategic importance. Located on the southern coast of Greenland, Tanbreez is not only rich in resources but also ideally positioned for year-round operations thanks to its access to deep-water routes and close proximity to necessary infrastructure. This geographic advantage is complemented by the project's minimal environmental footprint.
Tanbreez boasts an impressive 45 million tonne resource, with a 0.40% concentration of total rare earth oxides (TREO). Notably, 27% of these are high-value heavy rare earth elements (HREE), such as dysprosium, terbium, and yttrium, crucial for advanced electronics and green technologies. The potential for expanding the resource through additional lateral and depth drilling is currently being explored to further solidify future reserve estimates.
The project's design includes an environmentally considerate open-pit mining operation targeting surface-exposed kakortokite ore, which has a beneficially low initial strip ratio of 0.5:1. This aspect promises advantageous early project economics. The planned on-site processing will involve gravity and magnetic separation methods to produce a high-grade eudialyte-enriched concentrate with 20–30% TREO content.
This concentrated output is intended for export to hydrometallurgical refineries in the United States or Europe, aligning with geopolitical objectives to decrease Western dependence on Chinese rare earth materials. The strategic placement of the project and its modular plant design are projected to reduce both capital and operating costs significantly.
Although the current economic model focuses on rare earth elements, the site also contains valuable by-products such as zirconium, tantalum, and niobium, which may provide additional economic benefits as the project evolves.
Ownership and financial interest in the Tanbreez project are strategically distributed, with European Lithium holding a 7.5% direct stake and about 70% ownership of Critical Metals Corp, thus offering its shareholders a dual benefit of direct project returns and broader exposure to critical minerals.
As we look toward the future, European Lithium is committed to advancing this project through stages of feasibility studies, securing offtake agreements, and necessary financing. With initial production aimed for 2028, the ongoing developments at Tanbreez are set to play a pivotal role in the reshaping of global rare earth supply dynamics.
