Hochschild Mining has acquired the BioLantanidos ionic clay rare earth deposit in Chile for $56.3m. The deposit features a high concentration of a series of rare earth elements used in magnets for electric cars and wind turbines.
The investment made during 2018 and early this year gave the company a 6.2% equity stake in the deposit, with the option to increase ownership.
The project features ionic clay resources that are the same as those identified in China but different from the majority of other rock-based rare earth projects globally.
BioLantanidos owns around 72,000ha of concessions.
Hochschild Mining CEO Ignacio Bustamante said: “We believe that consolidating 100% of this early-stage rare earth deposit in Chile represents a unique opportunity for our shareholders and is the direct result of Hochschild’s deep understanding of the region. The investment is also the result of an extensive long-term project to identify commodities with very strong growth characteristics as well as our ability to discover regional investment options that might not otherwise be available.”