Ann: Very High Metallurgical Recoveries, page-210

Omg people talking about chemistry and they have no qualifications or have never worked in a chemical plant. It makes no difference what acid was used in this first trial. It has nothing to do with the clay's. It's all about seeing first hand can clays be leached. The answer is a massive YES. This was the first step in MET testing and BH was blown away how easily it leached. I have commissioned many projects at a chemical plant. Monomer tanks , rector vessels , heat exchangers, pumps, ion exchange systems , monomer loading vessels, tanks that contain hazardous chemicals. I have worked in new product development and travelled the world discovering best practices, trained operators, written procedures and worked with the best minds on finding solutions to complex chemistry problems. If anyone thinks that the type of acid used will determine whether MRD or OD6 clay's will be processed has absolutely no idea how the chemical engineering industry work's. I cannot be bothered arguing with anyone in the chemical field who had absolutely no qualifications or experience in that field. ANSTO and CSIRO would employ personal that would be Australia's finest engineers and I'll back them in 100% to find a solution for Esperance clays. The western world needs to wean off dependence on China's REE production and WA is the perfect place to start the revolution.