Why building a rare earth mine is such a high hurdle

Processing rare earth ore has a huge hurdle for most projects, said the CEO and president of Geomega Resource, Kiril Mugerman. 

On Friday Mugerman recorded Kitco Roundtable podcast with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and editor Neils Christensen.

Geomega is investing in recycling processes to recover rare earth waste. Mugerman was asked why it is so difficult to build a rare earth mine.  

"Separating [rare earth] is very hard. There is uranium and thorium included, so you need to get rid of those. You're dealing with fairly low grades. If you want to produce something you have to produce huge amounts of waste [with] very large tailings facilities," said Mugerman.