First mover advantageI wonder what will be the effect of having a first REE recycling plant in operation from a public company in Canada? How will it affect the other juniors?
GMA may be happy to get some feeds from other mines if there is a shortage of feeds, but my understanding from the article of GITI's CEO was that these feeds might not have a high enough percentage of valuable REE to be refined economicaly. Therefore, the focus would probably be on urban mining and the feeds containing valuable REE and in sufficient quantity.
From what I understand, most of the juniors bank on future increase of REE pricing. But what would be the impact on the REE prices if GMA is able to increase the offer of REE on the market? And what if there is a second plant? And maybe more?
The first mover advantage might have the undesired effect of barring the entry (or at least making it more difficult) to new comers by having an effect on the REE prices (although the quantity that GMA intends to refine should be very small at first). In addition, GMA might not really help the other juniors that rely on a new separation method as their feeds would not be as valuable as the end of life feeds or permanent magnets waste...
Pure speculation on my part though!
Moulouk