Defense Metals Corporation acquires Wicheeda rare Earth Mine

Us defense metals company (Defense Metals) recently acquired 100 per cent ownership of its flagship rare earth mine Wicheeda in British Columbia.

Last year, Defense Metals and Sinosteel reached an agreement on cooperation in testing and concentrator design and research, and conducted a survey on the establishment of an on-site large-scale demonstration plant in Wicheeda to assess the economic and technical feasibility of comprehensive mine development.

The company reported that its mineral resources were estimated at 5 million tonnes of indicator resources, with an average of 2.95 per cent TREO, inferred resources of 29.5 million tonnes and an average of 1.83 per cent TREO, threshold of 0.5 per cent TREO. Compared with resource estimates before 2020, current resources have increased by 36 per cent on a metal-containing basis, due to the estimated presence of more economically significant medium and heavy rare earth elements and a lower boundary grade based on the PEA economic hypothesis.

The Wicheeda rare earth mine is located near the infrastructure about 80 kilometers northeast of Prince George. Defense Metals aims to produce an average of 25000 tonnes of rare earth oxide (REO), a year, about 10 per cent of the world's current production.