 They I'm very pleased to be talking with Dr. Anthony Mariano senior and his son Anthony Mariano junior, I believe I'm sorry Anthony, I don't know what your educational background is so I don't what are I'm a geologist as well educated in geology so So between the two of you, I believe you have more than a century of experience in this that correct Pretty close if you add it up. Yeah. Yes. Yes more than a century of experience Yes, he's been all around the world with me including a few years ago We worked in North Korea and I read I remember when you came back from North Korea You were quite you were quite Adiment that there were significant rare earth mineralogy in North Korea Not not that we saw there was there was the potential but but it needs to be explored so anyway So I'm misremembering that but I'm very happy today to be speaking with you two gentlemen because I don't think anyone knows more about the mineralogy of rare earths on this planet Then Dr. Mariano, so it's I've got some very I think today What do your work is even more important than it's ever been because We have governments in the United States and Europe claiming that well, there's no problem with where it's well It will just don't develop them in in our countries and that's the end of the problem next next problem So I'd like to ask you what's your opinion of the So sourcing of rare earths, especially the magnetic types in North America or in Europe Do you is there enough material accessible to us on these two continents so that we could be independent of China? Yes Okay Very very since it's it's going to be caught it may be costly To produce but it's like the jet fight fighter aircraft or all the ordinances The hard technology that are used today. They're expensive, but when you need them you got them Do you think there's enough work underway to I to locate these deposits and You know, I realized that It's hard to have an opinion on whether they'll be developed, but have we found have we Located everything we need in the Americas in Europe is to be self-sufficient well, it certainly wouldn't hurt to find more than what we have located but we have located a number of areas that could yield heavy lanthanides of For the marketplace and certainly as long as mountain pass exists It takes care of the lights So so you're saying that we we could be self-sufficient in the heavy wearer roots in the West here Between the United States and Canada we could do it again. It's it's going to be a well for one thing The uranium occurrences that are mined in Canada. Yes Those solutions once the Iran and I is put into solution Heavy rare earths go into solution right away. They're amenable to recovery if The company that exploits them wants to go that room. I Think the point is that to really try to focus on your question there. There are on the There are a number of Rare well, there are many many potential rare earth deposits that have been located domestically and and they vary in Lantanae distribution. So there is plenty for the magnetic rare earths As well as the traditional You know more more light rare earth dominant Deposits the the question is Can these things be exploited economically and so that as you know mineralogy for rare earths is is far more complex and far more of a piece of puzzle a piece of the puzzle that needs to be solved to bringing these things to the market Then then you know other types of tradition, you know other types of deposits precious metals and base metals and that type of thing so There are rare earths rare earth deposits domestically, it's just which ones present themselves in in mineralogy, so they coincide with our Processing techniques that are economic or can be developed Through more research to be economic and we can exploit them and provide them to the marketplace, you know, you you've made me think of something Sometime in the last 10 years I spoke at a uranium conference in Texas and They asked me to speak about the rare earth occurrences in the in the ores they were processing and it was obvious there was there were quite a bit of Rare earths in in the uranium in the uranium or associate with the rainy more and I remember I asked The CEO of a uranium mining company. Well, why aren't you processing them? And he said look you said that's not our Expertise that's not our specialty and he said we were we have been approached by many many Rare earth juniors and he said and and he said I'll tell you what I told one of them He said I told one of them if we let you Fool around with our process equipment and you screw up and we have a spill It'll cost us a fortune and he said it Takes 10 years to get a permit to mine uranium in the US and you'll you'll mess that up and you'll say sorry And I'll be fired. He said so I'd rather avoid those those possibilities now. I happen to know uranium processors and miners in North America and In the last several years None of them has said anything to me about recovering those rare earths and in particular the heavy wearer it's being the most desirable right now because people think they know where the light wearers are and But as far as I know There is as far as I know, I don't think there's any heavy wearer production outside of perhaps Myanmar and China Do you do know? Better than I do about that. There is there is an occurrence In South America, yeah in Brazil, right? Patinga has a tremendous amount of Xeno time YPO for that runs very high in the heavy length of nights and I don't know what they're doing there. I the last time I was there it was with Let's Heyman and Constantine carry an Oculus and Tony and I and also Ed Mcnoog Who's with Molly core now and and P materials excuse me and P materials? MP materials That's all pot I don't know why I fell apart, but it's an excellent That's for a tin mining district is it yes It would be by product from tin mining and I don't even know how they're doing with tin. I've been out of that How many years has it been told me five or six years? I went to jail last time I was there. I went to jail They threw me in jail Okay, well we you know again the the heavy wearer supply is a real Game stopper in in my opinion in in in the West and it's not being addressed You know the only places I know where where they're trying to mine Xenotime are in Australia Where they've got a couple of projects, but I I know I've spoken with you about Patinga before and I've spoken to Constantine carry an Oculus about and he said they spent several years trying to do that his company Neo and He didn't say why but he said they just pulled out So I'm not aware of anybody today working on that, but it's interesting to me You're saying there are sufficient rare earths Including the heavies in the Americas to handle the problem the problems we've got do you do you see? Without government any of this stuff going forward it is Is the is the financial community interested in spending money to develop these things? Jack I can't answer that question because I'm not competent once I leave The mineralogy the geology, okay? You know if if they do find something that's worthwhile the cost the cost of starting up There would be years before they could recover their investment just in in setting up in an open place Well, I agree with you and I think that what's missing from all discussions of Developing sources of critical materials is the time involved You know in the more Sophisticated the country the harder it is to get permitted to do mining or refining and so the idea that's that we're going to suddenly Transform our economy into electric cars and wind and solar overnight and with anything that requires significant magnetic rare earths to me is a little foolish and and my experience of my shorter life than yours so far is that American politicians and people like that just don't understand What's what's required to bring to find the rare earth deposit that's accessible and that is Can be built because if you find a deposit the top of the and these that doesn't matter because we you can't do it there so I've Always considered you to be the leading rare earth meteorologist in the world Okay, and and I and I knew you wouldn't answer my question about finance anyway So, yeah, well that's true, but I Well remember just to wind this up with a with an old man story. I'm the old man I remember when you and I were talking about Dave Truman who passed on recently and Dave must have been in his 70s when he went and you and I were talking about him in Alaska and I was talking Dave had been Talking to me about he worked for 10 cold, you know, and and you said, oh, yeah, I know him He said the boys got promise. Well, the boy was then in the 60s He said he's a little more seasoning. He'll probably be a pretty good dialysis. So I that's I mean, I'm in the same boat you are. I'm a little younger than you are but I I find that the Younger people Do not have the breath of experience to know how difficult it is to take Minerals in the ground to something you can drive and And and and so this to me is is the big the biggest problem today I'm very pleased to have you say that we have sufficient material It is it is really and always has been an economics problem Anyway, I want to thank you for taking the time to talk to me and we I Was speaking recently with a geologist in in Australia Who remembered you in the early 80s at Mount Welch? And and and he said is Tony still around I said, yes Okay, because because people don't realize how how How much you were involved in the development of Mount Welch? I identified I was the first one to Identified super gene rare earth mineralization at Mount Welch and that's what started the rare earth program That was in 1980 February 1980 Well, you you're and you claim you don't you don't know if you're the senior rare earth geologist on the planet I think you are I Think so, I think so Anyway, I want I want to thank you and we'll be coming back to you guys for our check as this developed because There's a rare earth boom lip on again as you know, it's it's happened several times before but yeah Who knows maybe it'll catch. Thank you. Thank you very much for the time. All right. Thank you Yeah, you look like you're in great shape. Take care