ICD explorers just can't bring themselves to clearly report results and implications for REE leach tests. pH=1 is a lot more aggressive than pH=4 (1000 times more acidic) used in Chinese style deposit leaching with ammonia salts. Fair enough, pH=1 is achievable with "5-10g/L H2SO4" at IXR's Makutu deposit in Uganda with potentially economic acid consumption (REE price dependant obviously).
What TAR just released was
"The Desorption test reported extractions of up to 13% of the Magnet Rare Earths with a short 0.5-hour leach time. The best desorption results were from the target Yednalue Formation."... meaning Ph=4 type salt based leach I assume, very low.
"The pH1 test showed a significant increase in extractions compared to the desorption test, with extractions of up to 26% of the MREO and 25% of the HREO."... Condition 1 test results with real world temperature and typical duration leaching better but looks clearly uneconomically low. Keep in mind "up to" means the average extraction is lower again obviously.
Condition 2 test results with pH=0.3 (~ 5 x as acidic) held at 50 deg C and 6 hours to increase leach efficiency. Condition 2 is not 'leach pad' real world, and pH 0.3 is extremely acidic and potentially very expensive at "50g/L" compared to "5-10g/L" H2SO4 required to achieve pH=1 at Makutu. 5-10 times acid addition is 5-10 times acid consumption cost...
Company says "REE mineralisation is easily leachable with
moderate acid addition:"... adjectives are subjective, but I call "moderate" BS... Further work will head down the path of every other ICD REE ASX player, looking at "Beneficiation work will include processes such as sizing, ore-sorting and desliming." to try and reduce the quantity of ore feed to the leach tank, try to reduce acid consumption and increase recoveries after losing a fair amount of REE to the reject fraction. Economic implications include high mining rates and extra costs to beneficiate the ore and ultimately tank leach beneficiated ore instead of heap leach.
More of the same disappointing recovery results as other ASX REE wannabes for mine. However, upside in very good grades from surface and near surface (like sample 33249 of 5739ppm TREO at 4m) look thicker, higher grade and shallower than most other projects ... GLTAH.
