02/13/2013 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES

        SJR  8-MINING/PROCESSING OF RARE EARTH ELEMENTS                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
3:30:59 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR GIESSEL announced SJR 8 to be up for consideration.                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  MCGUIRE,  sponsor  of  SJR 8,  said  that  this  measure                                                               
supports  rare   earth  elements   (REE)  which   possess  unique                                                               
chemical,   electrical   and   physical   properties   that   are                                                               
indispensable   for  national   defense  in   producing  military                                                               
equipment,  clean energy  technologies including  hybrid electric                                                               
vehicles,  wind turbines  and consumer  goods  like I-phones  and                                                               
laptops.  Currently, China  controls  95 percent  of the  world's                                                               
rare  earths and  they  decided  two years  ago  to reduce  their                                                               
export quotas down to 50 percent.                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
She said  that Alaska is  very fortunate to  have at least  one -                                                               
Bokan  Mountain  near  Prince  of Wales  Island  -  and  probably                                                               
several world  class deposits of rare  earth elements positioning                                                               
it to  become the  U.S.'s leading supplier  of rare  earths. This                                                               
resolution  supports  the  continued and  increased  exploration,                                                               
extraction, processing  and production  of rare earths  and urges                                                               
state   and   federal   agencies   and   Congress   to   expedite                                                               
consideration of the permits.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
3:35:02 PM                                                                                                                    
KEN COLLISON, COO, UCOR Rare  Metals, Inc., Bedford, Nova Scotia,                                                               
testified that  he is  a mining  engineer. He  had worked  in the                                                               
industry for 40  years and this was his fourth  mine to build. He                                                               
noted that light rare earth elements  are not rare or worth a lot                                                               
of money, but that the heavy  earths are and those are needed for                                                               
green  technology defense.  What  separates  Bokan Mountain  from                                                               
some of  the other  areas is  that it has  40 percent  rare earth                                                               
oxide (as opposed  to 1 percent that Mountain  Pass in California                                                               
has, for  instance). He said  the Bokan project uses  ore sorting                                                               
technology,  so when  it closes  there will  be no  tailings. The                                                               
technology  that allows  production  of a  rare  earth oxide  was                                                               
developed by  three Stanford  PhD chemists; no  one else  has it.                                                               
This  process creating  value-added products  could become  a new                                                               
industry for the state.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR DYSON moved  to report SJR 8, as  amended, from committee                                                               
to   the    next   committee   of   referral    with   individual                                                               
recommendations.                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR GIESSEL noted that Senator Fairclough objected.                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  MCGUIRE  moved  conceptual  Amendment 1  to  strike  the                                                               
provision  on page  2, lines  20-22. This  is to  reflect Senator                                                               
Murkowski  and Senator  Begich's  introduction of  S. 181,  which                                                               
would authorize construction  of a road to Niblack  and the Bokan                                                               
Mountain Mine.                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  FAIRCLOUGH  removed  her  objection and  there  were  no                                                               
further  objections, therefore  the  motion  to adopt  conceptual                                                               
Amendment 1 passed.                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR  GIESSEL  found no  further  objection  and announced  that                                                               
CSSJR  8(RES) was  reported from  the  Senate Resources  Standing                                                               
Committee.