[Ferro-Alloys.com]Japan’s Sumitomo Mining to build first rare earth mineral plant in the Philippines

 

Japanese company Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. (SMM) announced, through a statement posted on its website, that it will be constructing a scandium recovery plant on the Philippines‘ Palawan Island later this year, which it expects to be operational in 2014. This could spell the start of the country’s first venture into the rare earths mining industry.

 

Scandium is a silvery-white metallic transition metal, which is commonly used to make high-intensity light bulbs. It is combined with mercury vapor lamps so that it will be able to emit light similar to that of the sun. It is also used in baseball bats and bikes to make them much sturdier. According to SMM, scandium is found in the ore used by its majority-owned subsidiary Coral Bay Nickel Corp. (CBNC) to make nickel-cobalt mixed sulfide.

 

With the end of having more efficient operations, SMM have been developing a scandium recovery method at its Niihama Research Laboratories in Ehime Prefecture. In the wake of its supposed success, it also announced in the statement that it was able to create technology enabling efficient recovery of scandium from the nickel-cobalt mixed sulfide production process. According to Nickel Asia Corp. yesterday, Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp., which it co-owns with SMM, will likely adopt the technology if found successful. “It will represent the country’s first production of a rare earth element, an important step in the development of the Philippines’ mineral resources,” it claimed.