Equinox Resources announced to the Australian Securities Exchange on Tuesday it had pegged 1760sqkm of clay-hosted rare earth tenements in the Bahia State region of Brazil to establish the Campo Grande project.
Equinox managing director Zac Komur told The West Australian the major rare earths land holding — roughly the size of the Hawaiian Island of Maui — will unlock a new pathway of growth for the junior.
“Clay-based rare earths will be a major disruptor for the rare earths sector and the Bahia region is set to be at the forefront of this,” he said.
Clay-hosted rare earths require a less expensive mining process and deliver more eco-friendly outcomes than the traditional hard rock rare earths deposits found in Australia Mr Komur says. Hard rock rare earth miners have to essentially melt the valuable elements out of the rocks they dig up, which is not the case for clay-hosted mining deposits.
Equinox is also poised to capitalise on the “nearology” of a Gina Rinehart-backed clay rare earths play.
The Campo Grande project is a stone’s throw away from the Rocha da Rocha rare earths project held by Brazilian Rare Earths, which is currently undertaking a $50 million initial public offering on the ASX, with an expected market capitalisation of around $315m once it hits the bourse on December 18.
Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting is set to own over 5 per cent of the company once it lists and Whitehaven Coal has also emerged as a key investor of BRE.
“We were pegging at Brazil earlier this month when the BRE prospectus came out, and the board said ‘grab what you can’,” Mr Komur told The West Australian.
“It was coincidental timing, we happened to be searching there after a great study by the Brazilian government on the Bahia region’s strong rare earths potential.”
