First day of dealings on AIM (4095A)

TIDMREG

RNS Number : 4095A

Rare Earths Global PLC

30 March 2012

 
 Press Release   30 March 2012 
 

Rare Earths Global Limited

("REG" or the "Group")

First Day of Dealings on AIM

Rare Earths Global Limited, a leading Chinese mining services group focused on the extraction, separation, refinement and trading of rare earth elements, oxides and other related products, today announces the commencement of dealings of its Ordinary Shares on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange. Charles Stanley is acting as Nominated Adviser and as Broker to the Company. The stock market EPIC will be REG.L.

Placing Statistics

 
 Placing Price                                      247 pence 
--------------------------------------------  --------------- 
 Number of Ordinary Shares in issue prior 
  to and immediately following the Placing         63,587,681 
--------------------------------------------  --------------- 
 Market Capitalisation at the Placing Price    GBP157 million 
  on Admission 
--------------------------------------------  --------------- 
 

Commenting on the Company's AIM listing, Simon Ong, Chief Executive Officer of Rare Earths Global, said: "The Board is very pleased with the successful Admission to AIM which will underpin the next stage in the Company's development."

"We look forward to working to further develop the business and capitalise on this fast-growth market."

- Ends -

For further information:

 
 Rare Earths Global Limited 
 Ivor Shrago, Non-Executive Chairman   Tel: [phone] 
 Simon Ong, Chief Executive Officer          Tel: [phone] 
                                        www.rareearthsglobal.com 
 
 
 Charles Stanley Securities 
 Dugald J. Carlean / Luke Webster   Tel: [phone] 
  / Carl Holmes 
                                        www.csysecurities.com 
 

Media enquiries:

 
 Abchurch Communications Limited 
 Henry Harrison-Topham / Mark Dixon   Tel: [phone] 
 [e-mail]           www.abchurch-group.com 
 

Notes to editors:

Smelting and Separation

The Sanxie Plant, based in Guangdong Province, is the rare earth separation and refining business of the Group. The Sanxie Plant was established in 1994 and ever since has been principally engaged in the business of producing, separating and refining single REEs, REOs, rare earth concentrates, rare earth metals and other rare earth products.

Mining Services

Through its wholly owned subsidiary Billion Full (Huangshan) Mining Services Technology Co., Ltd (Billion Full), the Company provides mining management services, technical support and equipment hire to local rare earth mining companies and factories in China. Billion Full has signed a long term exclusive technical services contract with Zhejiang Ke Xin Electronics Co. Ltd, whereby the Company provides on-site operation and management of the leach mining process. In addition, Billion Full provides technical support in exploration know-how, design and construction of mines, water control and treatment of waste. By offering mining services the Company is able to manage the complete value chain in the production of REPs. This creates an efficient, low cost process which results in higher grade material at a better margin.

REP Trading

In 2011, Huangshan Quansheng Mineral Products Sales Co., Ltd, acquired a business licence to trade REP in the domestic Chinese market and in the overseas market using its export quota through Pingyuan Sanxie Rare Earth Smelting Co., Ltd. This allows the Group to trade REP at any stage of the production process at their own discretion as opposed to being required to sell in the spot market. The Board expects to begin REP trading as soon as possible after Admission.

REEs and the market

Rare earth elements are a group of seventeen elements that are critical to the creation of many electronic, clean energy and clean technology applications. The group of elements is made up of fifteen lanthanides in addition to the individual elements Yttrium and Scandium. Yttrium and Scandium are sometimes also defined as rare earths because they are found with lanthanide deposits and possess similar characteristics. Rare earth elements are moderately abundant in the earth's crust, some even more abundant than copper, lead, gold and platinum. However, most rare earth elements are not concentrated enough to make them exploitable economically.

REEs can be separated into two groups known as 'light' rare earths and 'heavy' rare earths. In the lanthanides group, any elements between atomic numbers 57 (Lanthanum) and 62 (Samarium) in the periodic table are LREs. Elements with atomic numbers 63 (Europium) to 71 (Lutetium) in the periodic table are HREs. This delineation is due to differences in ionic radius, crystal structure and basicity of material. The ionic radius of the HREs makes them denser, more resistant to high temperatures, and less reactive in some circumstances. In addition, as well as having more unique properties, the HREs are more scarce than LREs. For example, regardless of the rare earth oxide grade, most rare earth deposits have a ratio of only around 95:5 (LRE:HRE).

Ten year historical view of selected REE prices

 
 REO (99%                              Price ($ per kg) 
  purity) 
------------  ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
                  La      Ce      Nd      Pr      Sm       Dy       Eu       Tb 
------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -------  -------  ------- 
 2002            2.3     2.3     4.4     3.9     3.0     20.0    240.0    170.0 
------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -------  -------  ------- 
 2003            1.5     1.7     4.4     4.2     2.7     14.6    235.4    170.0 
------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -------  -------  ------- 
 2004            1.6     1.6     5.8     8.0     2.7     30.3    310.5    398.0 
------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -------  -------  ------- 
 2005            1.5     1.4     6.1     7.6     2.6     36.4    286.2    300.0 
------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -------  -------  ------- 
 2006            2.2     1.7    11.1    10.7     2.4     70.4    240.0    434.0 
------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -------  -------  ------- 
 2007            3.4     3.0    30.2    29.1     3.6     89.1    323.9    590.4 
------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -------  -------  ------- 
 2008            8.7     4.6    31.9    29.5     5.2    118.5    481.9    720.8 
------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -------  -------  ------- 
 2009            4.9     3.9    19.1    18.0     3.4    115.7    492.9    361.7 
------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -------  -------  ------- 
 2010           22.4    21.6    49.5    48.0    14.4    231.6    559.8    557.8 
------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -------  -------  ------- 
 Q2 2011       135.0   138.3   256.2   220.1   125.6    921.2   1830.0   1659.2 
------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -------  -------  ------- 
 Q3 2011       117.7   118.7   338.9   344.7   129.5   2262.3   4900.0   3761.5 
------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -------  -------  ------- 
 Q4 2011       104.1   102.0   234.4   197.3   103.4   1449.8   2842.9   2334.2 
------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -------  -------  ------- 
 23/01/2012     52.0    45.0   200.0   170.0    80.0   1420.0   3800.0   2820.0 
------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -------  -------  ------- 
 

Currently, the prices of REEs range dramatically between LREs (e.g. Lanthanum US$52/kg) and HREs (e.g. Europium US$3,800/kg). The table above shows internationally available prices for REEs. The Group believes that the domestic prices available in China will typically be around 20% lower than those shown above.

Since 1992 China has controlled the world's primary rare earth export market. In 2003, China introduced an export quota restricting international supply to enable it to control global supply and pricing. Rare earth pricing has risen in any event due to the increasing demand from the automobile, consumer goods, technology and wind turbine industries. REE contribute to these goods enabling them to be made smaller, more efficient and more powerful.

The following table sets out the selected end uses for the LRE and HRE:

 
 Light Rare Earths   Major End Use          Heavy Rare Earths   Major End Use 
  (more abundant)                            (less abundant) 
------------------  ---------------------  ------------------  --------------------- 
 Lanthanum           hybrid engines,        Terbium             phosphors, permanent 
                      metal alloys                               magnets 
------------------  ---------------------  ------------------  --------------------- 
 Cerium              auto catalyst,         Dysprosium          permanent magnets, 
                      petroleum refining,                        hybrid engines 
                      metal alloys 
------------------  ---------------------  ------------------  --------------------- 
 Praseodymium        magnets                Erbium              phosphors 
------------------  ---------------------  ------------------  --------------------- 
 Neodymium           auto catalyst,         Yttrium             red colour, 
                      petroleum refining,                        fluorescent 
                      hard drives                                lamps, ceramics, 
                      in laptops,                                metal alloy 
                      headphones,                                agent 
                      hybrid engines 
------------------  ---------------------  ------------------  --------------------- 
 Samarium            magnets                Holmium             glass colouring, 
                                                                 lasers 
------------------  ---------------------  ------------------  --------------------- 
                                            Thulium             medical x-ray 
                                                                 units 
------------------  ---------------------  ------------------  --------------------- 
                                            Lutetium            catalysts in 
                                                                 petroleum refining 
------------------  ---------------------  ------------------  --------------------- 
                                            Ytterbium           lasers, steel 
                                                                 alloys 
------------------  ---------------------  ------------------  --------------------- 
                                            Gadolinium          Magnets 
------------------  ---------------------  ------------------  --------------------- 
                                            Europium            red colour for 
                                                                 television and 
                                                                 computer screens 
------------------  ---------------------  ------------------  --------------------- 
 

Source: DOI, U.S, Geographical Survey, Circular 930-N

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