Critica Mid West met-work yields high-grade rare | Australian Markets

Critica Limited’s flagship Jupiter Project, 52 kilometres west-southwest of Mount Magnet in Western Australia’s Mid West, has achieved a vital milestone in its metallurgical check work, reinforcing its potential as Australia’s largest clay-hosted rare earths deposit.

The latest part of testwork, undertaken by the Centre for Science and Technology of Mineral Resources and Environment in Vietnam, builds on earlier outcomes from February and confirms the project’s means to supply high-grade rare earth factor concentrates utilizing typical, low-cost beneficiation strategies.

The testwork utilised a two-stage flowsheet involving moist, low-intensity magnetic separation and rougher froth flotation for an initial early-stage unoptimised restoration of 45 per cent, yielding a stable baseline for additional optimisation.

The course of achieved a beneficiated grade of 15,000 elements per million (ppm) – or 1.5 per cent – complete rare earth oxides (TREO), together with 3990ppm magnet rare earth oxides (MREO), 1400ppm heavy rare earth oxides (HREO) and 5200ppm mixed neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr)+HREO, representing more than an 800 per cent uplift from the first useful resource grade.

Significantly, the beneficiation resulted in a 95 per cent mass discount in potential leach feed. The first stage separation course of additionally produced a probably helpful high-grade, iron-rich fraction grading 67 per cent iron, which may very well be a premium iron ore by-product to boost the project’s economics.

The low uranium and thorium content material additional helps the project’s clean metallurgical traits, which inserts nicely with Critica’s sturdy environmental, social and governance focus.

Jupiter’s inferred useful resource stands at a whopping 1.8 billion tonnes averaging 1700ppm TREO, together with a high-grade core of 500 million tonnes at 2200ppm TREO, and 682,000 tonnes MREO, comprising neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium.

This subsequent part of testwork confirms Jupiter’s means to ship upgraded rare earth concentrates with a significant NdPr and HREO element, advancing us additional alongside our development path. One of essentially the most important but under-appreciated outcomes is the distinctive 95 per cent mass discount achieved.

Deysel stated the outcomes mirror a technically sound, low-cost beneficiation route and help management’s imaginative and prescient of transitioning Critica from explorer to near-term developer.

Jupiter’s outstanding scale and grade place it among the many world’s prime clay-hosted rare earths deposits.

This standing is additional enhanced by the project’s location, 250km east of the Port of Geraldton and amid glorious infrastructure, together with the sealed Geraldton-Mount Magnet freeway and the Mid West gasoline pipeline.

Nearby processing services, similar to Lynas Rare Earths’ Mount Weld concentrator and Iluka Resources’ deliberate Eneabba facility, offer different sturdy advantages to the project.

The 95 per cent mass discount achieved during beneficiation minimises the fabric superior to leaching, which flows on to spectacular reductions in capital and working prices, environmental impression, allowing timelines and total environmental, social and governance compliance.

This effectivity, mixed with the project’s strategic location and district-scale potential within its higher Brothers project, the place Jupiter represents much less than 3 per cent of the realm, underscores Critica’s aggressive edge.

The open savannah terrain, open rangeland pastoral leases, low population density and year-round entry additional improve the project’s development concerns.

With Jupiter’s distinctive high-grade rare earths and confirmed environment friendly beneficiation consequence, Critica seems poised to energy Australia’s important minerals future, delivering worth with precision and sustainability.

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