Rare Earths Rival Lure of Navigator’s Gold, Fuel Share ‘Bubble’
This article is for subscribers only.
Bankers visiting Navigator Resources Ltd.’s gold mine in Western Australia two weeks ago soon turned their focus to a different set of metals about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) to the north: rare earths.
Twelve days after their Oct. 11 tour, Navigator said it planned to sell half its rare earth assets for at least A$10 million ($9.9 million) to create a separately listed company. The speed of the deal comes amid surging interest in the minerals used in disk drives, wind turbines and guided missiles because of looming shortages caused by China’s cuts to exports that account for more than 97 percent of world supply.