- Using a traditional, well-understood and affordable leaching solution relying on a fairly low concentration of hydrochloric acid, Mount Ridley Mines (MRD) was able to recover 85 per cent of magnetic rare earths
- Recovery rates are more than 80 per cent for high-value magnetic rare earths
- The company’s metallurgy results follow earlier downstream tests suggesting Mount Ridley can extract a lot of value out of its ore
- The Mia prospect is of particular interest to the company
- Mount Ridley will kick off more aircore drilling in September with a maiden resource due before the end of the year
- Shares last traded at 0.2 cents
Mount Ridley Mines’ (MRD) geotechnical experts have confirmed that the rare earth-hosting ore on-site at its namesake project can be easily treated to enhance metal extraction downstream.
Using a traditional, well-understood, and affordable leaching solution that relies on a fairly low concentration of hydrochloric acid, the company has been able to recover 85 per cent of magnetic rare earth elements contained within the ore.
Extraction of up to 72 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO) content has been demonstrated from crushed rock at MRD’s Mia and Vincent prospects. Mia has been shown to contain high-grade REEs.
Within this cohort, there is an even better 85 per cent extraction rate for the high-value magnet rare earth oxides (MREO), typically neodymium and praseodymium.
Recently, the company conducted separate beneficiation tests, which revealed an average grade upgrade of 164 per cent for the Mia prospect and 154 per cent for Vincent.
The study found that the company could easily remove unwanted proportions of its crushed ore by simply screening it at -75 microns.
This news will excite company geotechnical experts and shareholders who are eagerly awaiting the next drill run in September and a maiden resource estimate (MRE) for the project later in the year.
Assay results are also expected in September following a recently concluded aircore drilling campaign at the Central Mia prospect.
Meanwhile, a separate and new infill campaign is set to commence in September, with 9000 meters worth of holes to be drilled. Twenty of those holes will be used specifically to provide samples for further metallurgical tests.
“The weighted average drill-intersection grade at Mia now exceeds 1500ppm TREO. It is projected that this grade may increase to above 2400ppm TREO through simple screen beneficiation, a rate of upgrade of 160 per cent,” MRD Chairman Peter Christie said.
“Now excellent acid leach test results have been returned from beneficiated test samples, showing the potential efficacy of HCl leaching to recover rare earth elements at a reasonable level of acid consumption.”
Shares last traded at 0.2 cents.