Medallion Resources expects to build rare earth processing facility in Middle East

Monazite focused rare earth firm Medallion Resources (CVE:MDL, OTCQX:MLLOF) says it expects to build a large scale processing facility in the Gulf States.
The firm has been meeting with potential Middle East sovereign-supported joint-venture partners since March to arrange potential investment and to locate a suitable site for the facility and will reveal more when negotiations are complete.
The firm's chairman and chief executive Dr Bill Baird said: "We are pleased by the intense interest generated in the Middle East by our monazite business model.
"The parties we met recognised the cost and time-saving attributes of Medallion's fast-track monazite approach to entering the global rare-earth marketplace, as well as the strategic industrial advantages of locating a rare-earth supply centre within their jurisdictions."
Medallion said a rare earth processing facility in the Gulf States offered benefits including proximity to the majority of the world's monazite resources, access to world-class ports and industrial infrastructure, and availability of low-cost chemicals, gas and power.
Medallion's rare earth production strategy exploits currently mined monazite resources, which are a by-product of heavy-mineral-sands and typically discarded during the processing flow.
Monazite is a rare earth phosphate mineral with a proven, metallurgical extraction process which has successfully produced commercial rare earth products for over 100 years.