Kutessay II is the only past-producing Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREEs) mine in the world, located outside of China. Stans Energy owns a 25-year mining licence for the property, and the company is currently completing a JORC resource estimate (Australian equivilent to a NI 43-101, see – www.jorc.org for details), followed by a metallurgical study. Upon the results of these two milestones, Stans intends to begin a feasibility study to illustrate an economic model for reopening the Kutessay II HREE mine in the 4th quarter of 2010. During their last visit to northern Kyrgyzstan, the officers of Stans Energy were filmed by a business news television network, for a segment highlighting the company’s progess. The following video is a mine tour of Kutessay II.
50% Heavy Rare Earth Elements at Stans Energy’s Kutessay II
50% Heavy Rare Earth Elements at Stans Energy’s Kutessay II from Stans Energy on Vimeo.
Kutessay II Former REEs Open Pit Mine
Google Earth image of the Kutessay II open pit: Pointer 42 51’52.90”N 76 08’00.51” E
Kutessay II Facts
- Previously produced 80% of the former Soviet Union’s REEs from 1960-1991
- Former producing REEs open-pit mine
- 30 years of proven metallurgy, with approximately 65% recovery
- Good infrastructure, rail line 43 km away, electrical power on site, and the mine is located 140 km by paved road from Kyrgyzstan’s capital city of Bishkek
- Contains all 15 REEs and formerly produced every REE at purities up to 99.99%
- Light Rare Earth Elements (LREEs) to Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREEs) ratio of approximately 50/50
- Kutessay II concentrate was refined into 120 different REE compounds
- Abundance of qualified labour live in the area
Kutessay II REEs Historical Ore Distribution
Kutessay II Ore Distribution by Oxide Value USD – Average Price of REO/Kg = $57.75
(Prices Taken from www.asianmetals.com in July, 2010)
The history of Kutessay II is closely connected with the study of the whole Aktyuz ore field. Workings by ancient miners, dating to the 10th Century, were very widespread in the form of mining, the remnants of smelting furnaces and slag heaps. In modern times, the Aktyuz deposit was known to local hunters. For a short period in 1927, Arhangelsky private co-op mined oxidized and semi-oxidized ores here. In the same year the Aktyuz ore field was prospected among other poly-metallic prospects of Northern Kyrgyzstan by I.I. Bezdeka, and in 1928 by B.A. Fedorovich, who described it under the name of “Small Kemin deposit”.
“A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources, Stans Energy Corp. is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources and the historical estimate should not be relied upon.” Dr Gennady Savchenko QP for Stans Energy Corp., and managing Director for Stans Energy KG.
Rare earth metals (hereinafter REM) were known at the Aktyuz Ore Fields of the Kyrgyz Republic since the 1930s and started to be seriously examined from 1956, when industry was in sharp need for elements of yttrium group, especially thulium. By that time the geological service of the Republic had general information about rare earth metals thanks to research by N.D. Tikhomirov (1947), E.E. Korostylyova (1946), S.D. Turovsky (1947) and others.
Translated from Russian
“A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources, Stans Energy Corp. is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources and the historical estimate should not be relied upon.” Dr Gennady Savchenko QP for Stans Energy Corp., and managing Director for Stans Energy KG.
The Kutessay II REEs deposit, is located in the Kemin area on the northern slope of the Tasa–Kemin mountain Range, about 1 km southwest of the Aktiuz deposit, at 76_07E, 42_51N. The deposit was discovered in 1943 with reserves calculated in 1951. Ore reserves have been calculated at 35 Mt, grading 5% Pb, using a cut-off value of 0.5%. The contour of lead distribution comprising the ‘‘Pb orebody’’ (with Zn, Ag, Sn, Cu, Th credits) locally coincides with the contour of the ‘‘thorium orebody’’ (Th, Pb, REE) The Kutessay II deposit is of economic importance because of its large REE and base metal endowment .The deposit is hosted by the high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Precambrian uplifted basement, which comprise amphibole schists of the Kuperlisay Formation and gneisses of the Aktiuz Formation.
Kutessay II Processing Facilities
The Kyrgyz Chemical-Metallurgical Plant (KCMP) was designed to process concentrate from Stans’ 100% owned, former REE mine, Kutessay II. Stans Energy Corp. is currently engaging VNIIHT experts from Moscow Russia to assess the state of KCPM, and evaluate the plant’s capacity in relation to potential Kutessay II plans. The assessment will include proposed methods of improving the historical process, to optimize the plants with modern technology. The block diagram below shows the historical flow of production of the main intermediate materials and the final products produced by KCMP while it was in operation.
Photos
Paved road to the mine
Kutessay open pit
Stockpiled ore in the pit
Original Aktyuz Production Exit
