VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 01/16/12 -- Quantum Rare Earth Developments Corp. (TSX VENTURE: QRE)(OTCQX: QREDF)(FRANKFURT: BR3) ("Quantum", the "Company") has announced that CEO Peter Dickie has been interviewed by CEOCFO, a weekly print and online publication that focuses on publicly traded companies. The interview is available at http://www.ceocfointerviews.com/.
Quantum holds several assets, the primary one being the Elk Creek carbonatite in southeastern Nebraska, the site of substantial niobium and rare earth deposits. The Nebraska site includes an inferred resource of 80 million tons of 0.62% niobium which equates to approximately 500 million kilograms of niobium. Recent pricing for ferro-niobium is in the range of US$43 per kilogram, slightly below the 2011 peak of US$46 a kilogram. Overall, the world market has been growing in excess of 10% per year for the past decade.
The Elk Creek deposit is the only primary niobium deposit in the U.S. which the company is aware of in the size and grade reported. For the past 50 years, the U.S. has imported 100% of its niobium supply and is considering establishing a strategic stockpile. Recent news published from Asia reports that China is also considering establishing strategic stockpiles of certain metals, including niobium.
Niobium is used to harden steel, with applications for high-pressure pipelines and for alloys used in high-performance aircraft, among other uses. There are only three primary niobium mines in the world, with the largest, in Brazil, producing close to 85% of the world's supply. That company, CBMM, had two transactions in 2011 in which CBMM sold 30% of its mine for approximately $4 billion to Asian steel companies, the predominant end-user of the niobium.
Dickie said that Quantum, which owns 100% of the Elk Creek site, currently does not have a strategic partner on the project, but that having a larger company partner with Quantum may prove to be the fastest, most economically sound way to move forward. He added that the further the project is advanced by Quantum, the more likely a partnership may become a reality. During 2011, Quantum added to its board of directors and advisory board several highly experienced mining engineers and chemical engineers to help move the project forward.
Metallurgical testing on the niobium zone is now underway. Molycorp, who owned the project during the 1970s and 1980s, did perform metallurgical testing and Quantum hopes that by utilizing updated technology the Company will be able to replicate or perhaps improve on those historic results. Following that, the next major step for Quantum will be to have an independent third party begin to detail the economics of the project, which the Company anticipates will be concluded in the first half of 2012.
On Behalf of the Board,
Peter Dickie, President, CEO
Cautionary note: This report contains forward-looking statements. Resource estimates, unless specifically noted, are considered speculative. The Company has filed a National Instrument 43-101 report on the Elk Creek Project. Any and all other resource or reserve estimates are historical in nature, and should not be relied upon. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on factors that will or may occur in the future. Actual results may vary depending upon exploration activities, industry production, commodity demand and pricing, currency exchange rates, and, but not limited to, general economic factors. Cautionary Note to US investors: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission specifically prohibits the use of certain terms, such as "reserves" unless such figures are based upon actual production or formation tests and can be shown to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions.
"Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release."
Contacts:
Quantum Rare Earth Developments Corp.
Peter Dickie
President, CEO
604-568-7365
604-688-4215 (FAX)
www.QuantumRareEarth.com
