Mineral Processing Breakthrough Could Produce Larger Concentrations of Dysprosium, Praseodymium, Terbium and Neodymium at Quest's Mine Site

Quest Rare Minerals (TSX:QRM) (Quest) is pleased to announce the identification of potentially significant improvements to the mineral processing flowsheet for its Strange Lake project. If realized, a concentrate better suited for hydrometallurgical processing with a higher grade of combined Dysprosium (Dy), Terbium (Tb), Praseodymium (Pr), and Neodymium (Nd), could be produced on-site at its proposed Strange Lake, Quebec, mining and milling facilities.
Recent geological, mineralogical and textural review and compilation of ongoing work completed by Quest has provided insights that could improve the mineral processing flowsheet as outlined in its technical report entitled “NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Strange Lake Property, Quebec, Canada” dated March 8, 2017, with an effective date of updated Resource Estimate of February 15, 2017 (the “Technical Report”).
By targeting the host rock and textural characteristics of the minerals that predominantly include Dy, Tb, Pr, or Nd, instead of targeting Zirconium (Zr) and Total Rare Earth Elements (TREE), different handling and processing procedures could be utilized to improve the hydrometallurgical processing and Dy, Tb, Pr, and Nd grade of the concentrate. This is an important breakthrough because Dy, Tb, Pr and Nd are critical component metals of permanent magnets and Quest’s management team believes that they are likely to make-up the large majority of the potential revenue. As a result it has been decided to incorporate these considerations prior to the completion of the recommended pilot plant work.
Dirk Naumann, Quest Rare Minerals President, said:

“This is an exciting development. We now have a chance to demonstrate the recovery and extraction potential of the Strange Lake Project and become the first producer of individual Dy, Tb, Pr and Nd metal concentrates in North America.”

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