RE:E3, REEs potentialWanderer1187 wrote:
From the PEA, here is the metals breakdown. Now, Boron is pretty cheap so probably not worth it there, though you never know. However, Strontium is essential in for ferrite magnets (and since Tesla moved away from REEs in their motors, it's highly likely that it's ferrite magnets with strontium additives) and the best price I could find is roughly $5,400/ton.
With strontium 15x more abundant in the brine than lithium, let's say they only produce 1x ton of strontium per 1x ton of lithium, I believe that would still justify any additional CAPEX for strontium production. And that would theoretically cover the OPEX costs of both, making the lithium free.
Strontium based are weakest type. Boron is the value.
Neodymium Iron Boron magnets.
The cats meow.
Strongest alloy.
Think missles. Subs. Fighter jets. Satellites, etc, etc...on n on, all high temp demanding applications.
Also makes Iron in Clearwater not to be overlooked either.
Or there's also Rio Tinto across the way. Chris also mentioned E3 could add a bolt-on to extract that magnesium too.
But, the size & flow, this thing will absolutely contain economical co-products