They’ve said sometime ago they don’t think they’re truly ionic...

They’ve said sometime ago they don’t think they’re truly ionic in nature as has previously been traditionally defined but they are clay based and have proven that simple beneficiation works brilliantly and have some what could be defined as ionic type qualities but they a different type of clay deposit again to what China has.
Hence why they’ve shied away from calling them ionic some time ago. You’ve got to remember that article a) wasn’t written by them and b) it was written back in February. I don’t think it really matters what they are as long as they’re relatively easy to recover and it can be done efficiently and economically.