Critica cracks WA rare earths upgrade code in pilot breakthrough

Critica Limited’s pilot beneficiation has upgraded its Jupiter rare earths feed into a higher-grade intermediate concentrate. These critical minerals are used extensively in electronics and for power generation.

Critica Limited (ASX: CRI) has taken another big step forward at its giant Jupiter rare earths project in Western Australia’s Mid West after pilot beneficiation work in Vietnam markedly upgraded feed material, potentially reducing the scale and cost of its downstream processing circuit.

The company says its pilot plant has upgraded feed material by an impressive factor of fourteen, producing an intermediate concentrate grading three per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO).

The process rejected 95 per cent of the original feed mass, effectively concentrating the rare earth minerals into just five per cent of the mass. Notably, strong recoveries were maintained for key magnet rare earths, including neodymium at 74.5 per cent, dysprosium at 74.7 per cent, praseodymium at 69.3 per cent and terbium at 65.9 per cent.

The latest work was carried out in Vietnam by GAVAQ, the Centre for Science and Technology of Minerals and Environment, using bulk sample material from Critica’s Jupiter project.

The pilot work forms part of a broader processing chain flagged by Critica last year, with GAVAQ handling beneficiation in Vietnam before the upgraded material moves to Australian groups ANSTO and Minutech for downstream hydrometallurgical and product testwork.

The distinction matters because the three per cent figure refers to a concentrate produced at the initial beneficiation stage, rather than Critica’s previously reported 58 per cent mixed rare earth carbonate and 97 per cent mixed rare earth oxide, which are downstream products with much higher purity after chemical treatment.Simply put, the front-end beneficiation step strips out waste before more detailed and expensive refining begins. However, by concentrating the rare earths into just five per cent of the original feed mass, Critica can now see a clear path to lower projected operating costs, reduced capital intensity and improved economics.

Following the previously reported beneficiation recovery improvements and recent advancement in high-purity MREO production, ongoing pilot plant optimisation is now delivering higher grade intermediate concentrate from the same feed material.   The new results will be fed into a scoping study now underway with Sedgman, a major engineering and project delivery group owned by CIMIC.Critica Limited chief executive officer Jacob Deysel

The result builds on Critica’s February announcement of a first commercial-quality mixed rare earth carbonate produced at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and its 18 May update, which unveiled a mixed rare earth oxide grading 97.1 per cent total rare earth oxides, with recoveries of up to 71 per cent.Taken together, the results are beginning to outline a full mine-to-magnet development pathway, with pilot beneficiation work in Vietnam feeding directly into downstream processing studies in Australia as Jupiter steadily advances from lab-scale testwork toward a potential commercial development blueprint.

Critica says additional bulk sample material is already being processed to support further refinements and downstream testwork, including final product samples for potential off-takers, in parallel with ongoing scoping study inputs.

If the company continues to upgrade concentrates and maintain strong recoveries, Jupiter may soon transition from promising lab and pilot testwork towards the more practical realm of mine development.

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