March 16, 2012 — Tracy Weslosky of RareMetalBlog interviews leading rare earth industry expert Alastair Neill, Executive Vice President and Director for DACHA Strategic Metals Inc. (TSXV: DSM) on the challenges of pricing rare earths and the impact on public market valuations. “There is no futures market in the rare earth industry.” he starts as they discuss the impact of grades, the source, and the end user agreements as variables impacting price.
Alastair discusses how there are numerous grades for the various rare earths. For instance, there are 5 grades in the valuation of lanthanum. He states that before you buy rare earths you should understand where the material is made, what factories are producing it, where the analysis was done; as this seperates whether the rare earths are better used for landfill or for high tech applications. He reiterates that the reputation of the factory is a variable for consideration in buying rare earths.