John Walton, the grandson of the uranium mine’s founder Clem Walton, said a team from the Geological Survey of Queensland will inspect the deposit to confirm what it might be in three weeks.

The deposit contains various elements including Cerium, Lanthanum, Neodymium, Praseodymium, Yttrium, Gadolinium, and Samarium, Mr Walton said.

The prospector said such a find was curious and unusual because there were no traces of copper, silver, and lead in the deposit. 

“It’s just so intriguing. Why is it still there?” he said. 

“The mines department has to see it for itself. It’s a real big deposit. 

“I am the only one that has seen it, but I’m a prospector, not a geologist,” Mr Walton said. 

Rare earths were used for highly technological items such as magnets and batteries. Mr Walton considered them the elements of the future. 

“Particularly Neodymium. Holy moly, the things they can do with that. 

“You want to see what the Chinese are doing with magnets.” 

Geoscience Australia figures said China has 47.7 per cent of the world’s produced rare earths, which amounted to 55 million tonnes. Australia had 2.8 per cent. 

But China restricted its export of rare earths in 2010, and toughened its stance on illegal mining of the elements, according to Geoscience. 

Types of rare earths have already been discovered in the North West Minerals Province.

A small deposit 80 kilometres south of Mary Kathleen has been graded at 3236 parts per million (PPM). But it also contains 283 PPM of uranium oxide. 

Mary Kathleen also contains rare earths, including Yttrium, in its tailings, but it has uranium oxide as well, therefore restricting operations there. Mr Walton’s deposit also contains uranium, but a minuscule amount of 3 PPM. “I don’t want uranium, it’s a bad guy. The last thing I want or anyone wants is uranium in it,” he said.