Rhodia and Tantalus Rare Earths AG announced the signing of a Letter of Intent (“LOI”) relating to technical co-operation for the development of an optimal process for generating rare earth concentrates from the large near surface Tantalus rare earth project in Madagascar and the exclusive supply of these rare earth products to Rhodia.

The LOI will be followed by a definitive Technical Cooperation Agreement and Offtake Agreement for up to 15,000 t/a of rare earth products from Tantalus.

The Tantalus project is emerging as one of the largest clay hosted rare earth resources outside of China, with 130 Mt of rare earth oxide (“REO”) bearing clays already identified from a small portion of the project area on the Ampasindava Peninsula in north-western Madagascar. Analysis has shown that approximately 20 % of the REO’s are in the valuable “heavy” category.

• Tantalus Rare Earth AG, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Rhodia, member of the Solvay group, La Défense, France