"I think the second [rare earth] producer [outside of China to produce heavy rare earths economically] will be Avalon, which by sheer volume in size, swamps Great Western.

Keep in mind that Great Western's product is not going to be rare earths. It's going to be magnet alloy and Avalon can't compete with that. Avalon is going to produce huge quantities of rare earths ultimately.

They have one of the largest if not the largest rare earth ore body on earth in Canada. But they won't be the first to produce.

Once Great Western is producing and once the supply chain is reinvigorated in North America, that's going to bring all of these other guys and you're going to have in the next 10 years, in my opinion, four to six producers of rare earths in North America and no more than that.

Maybe there are 85 companies, but you're going to have just four to six produce." -

View Entire Article: Jack Lifton: Safeguarding Our Future Supply of Rare Earths The Gold Report Interview with Jack Lifton (12/11/09)