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Murray Ward
ASX-listed Barkly Rare Earths has announced a stunning 99 per cent extraction of high-value magnet rare earth oxides (MREO) from a single-stage metallurgical test on material from its namesake project in the Northern Territory.
The result, from a caustic conversion and hydrochloric acid leach test, represents a massive leap forward from the 74 per cent MREO extraction achieved in previous conventional leach work and could prove to be a pivotal moment in the company’s mission to develop a processing flowsheet.
The sighter test – a preliminary small-scale lab test used to check basic assumptions about how an ore will respond to processing – was independently completed by Nagrom in Perth. It was also successful in extracting 94 per cent of the yttrium, a metal used in electronics, high-powered lasers and targeted medical therapies.
Importantly, the test separated 92 per cent of the phosphorus impurities into the caustic solution, with no measurable rare earths detected. Removing troublesome elements such as phosphorus early in the process is a significant technical win, as it can simplify and reduce the cost of downstream purification.
‘Achieving 99% MREO extraction to the acid leach solution may unlock the rare earth minerals.’
Barkly Rare Earths managing director Craig Wright
Magnet rare earths, which include neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium, notably making up 34 per cent of the company’s total rare earth oxides basket, are the most sought-after of the 17 rare earth elements. They are critical components in the permanent magnets used in electric vehicles and wind turbines.
The metallurgical survey was conducted on a composite sample from Barkly’s flagship Barkly project, which currently hosts a hefty inferred mineral resource of 40 million tonnes at 710 parts per million (ppm) MREO, sitting within a broader halo of 2100 ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO).
When considering just how little drilling underpins the existing resource, the sheer scale of the opportunity becomes apparent. The prospect already holds82,000 tonnes of contained TREO, yet the resource was defined from just 46 holes and 755 metres of testing, representing less than one per cent of Barkly’s 5030-square-kilometre project.
Barkly Rare Earths managing director Craig Wright said: “This is an encouraging early metallurgical result for Barkly. Achieving 99% combined MREO extraction to the acid leach solution indicates that caustic conversion may unlock the rare earth minerals ahead of acid leaching while transferring most of the phosphate to a separate conversion-stage solution.”
The global rare earths market has been dominated by China for decades, a situation that has prompted governments and manufacturers in the West to incentivise the development of alternative supply sources. Western nations are now scrambling to secure their own supply chains, with the Australian Government recently committing $1.2 billion to a Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve, primarily for rare earths exploration.
With a solid resource already defined, Barkly’s focus is now twofold: to expand the resource and crack the metallurgical code to economically extract the valuable elements. The company is already well into a 10,000-metre drilling campaign across the project, aimed at growing its 40-million-tonne resource by the end of the year.
On the processing front, the company says it will now move to confirm the repeatability of its impressive 99 per cent extraction result at a larger scale. Further work will look to optimise the process by tweaking temperature, reagent use and residence times, in addition to evaluating impurity removal and final product recovery.
To oversee the crucial next phase of metallurgical work, the company has appointed Lu Zhang of MinPro Consult as an independent consultant.
Having only listed on the ASX in January this year after an oversubscribed $8 million IPO, Barkly appears to be moving at pace. With a significant resource in a Tier-1 jurisdiction, a major drilling program underway and now a potentially game-changing metallurgical pathway to follow, the company looks to be assembling the key pieces of the rare earths puzzle.
If the rods keep turning up mineralisation and the metallurgists can replicate this latest result at scale, Barkly might just be rounding the corner at its flagship project at a critical time for the rare earths sector.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
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