Parabellum Resources has announced its first resource estimate for the Khotgor rare-earth deposit in Mongolia’s South Gobi Province.
　　Based on a cut-off grade of 0.4% total rare-earth oxides-yttrium (TREO-Y), Hot Gol’s current ore resource amount is 275 million tons, with a TREO-Y grade of 0.91%. In 2004, the project’s estimated ore resource amount was 350 million tons, with a grade of 0.96%.
　　Calculated based on rare-earth oxides, the project contains 2.2 million tons of rare-earth metals, with neodymium and praseodymium accounting for 20% of the total rare-earth metal content.
　　The company plans to initially mine the high-grade ore section (with a TREO-yttrium boundary grade of 1.5%), which has ore reserves totaling 17 million tons and an average grade of 1.92%, corresponding to 328,200 tons of rare-earth oxide-yttrium content.
　　In December last year, the company stated that, based on previous work, the estimated high-grade resource amount for the entire project is 40 million to 50 million tons, with a rare-earth oxide grade of 2%.
　　If it reaches this level, the project could be comparable to Arafura Rare Earths and Hastings Technology Metals; however, its neodymium-praseodymium ratio is relatively low.
　　Although the resource volume is lower than expected, Parabelen Company still hopes to complete the preliminary study by mid-year.
　　Next, encrypted drilling and trenching operations will be carried out to prepare for the completion of the final feasibility study in 2024.
　　The company is building a pilot plant in preparation for beneficiation and metallurgical experiments. The initial experiments used a large-scale sample weighing 1.3 tons, and the rare-earth extraction rate exceeded 85%, which is comparable to previous results.
　　The Ulaanbaatar pilot plant will begin trial production at the end of this quarter to optimize the process and produce marketable samples.
　　In addition to rare earths, this project also contains other valuable elements that can be separated, such as phosphorus.
　　Parabellum Company believes that Hot Gol is “one of the world’s largest undeveloped rare-earth mineral deposits.”
　　The Hotgol rare-earth mine is located 530 kilometers southwest of Ulaanbaatar.
　　(Global Geological and Mineral Information System)