American Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:ARR, OTCQB:ARRNF) welcomes breakthrough metallurgical results delivered by the SynBREE project — a collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the University of Kentucky.
Ore from the company’s Halleck Creek project in Wyoming has been successfully preconcentrated to 3.5% total rare earth oxides (TREO) at a 12:1 upgrade ratio — an increase of around 200% from existing flowsheet design using low-cost, conventional dense medium separation (DMS).
The physical process of preconcentrating is a crucial step in the processing of critical minerals, like rare earth elements, as it separates the barren gangue material and the more valuable ore.
By preconcentrating the ore, wet high-intensity magnetic separator (WHIMS) needs were reduced by 70% from the existing design, significantly reducing capital and operating costs.
Further, the feed mass leading into direct leaching was reduced to 7% from 16% — a 56% reduction of material reporting to leach circuits, which provides another significant reduction in operating costs.
SynBREE to advance to next phase of study
The SynBREE project is a consortium led by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and draws on a wealth of rare earths experience in processing, separation, purification and economic analysis.
Alongside Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, American Rare Earths and the University of Kentucky, the consortium includes Penn State University, University of Illinois, Columbia University, Tufts University and Purdue University.
The program is funded by the Environmental Microbes as a BioEngineering Resource (EMBER) program within the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a US Department of Defense (DoD) agency.
The company reports that the SynBREE project has been selected to advance to the next phase of study and is now engaged in discussions around funding and next steps.
“Stacking up to become a world-class project”
American Rare Earths CEO Donald Swartz said: “The program set out to fill a critical DoD supply chain gap, and these results help to ensure that the US maintains its technological edge.
"We are now focused on implementing these improvements into our flowsheet and scoping study. I am excited with the upside potential, as the team utilised ore specifically low in radionuclides from early exploration work at the project.
“Since that time, we have completed new exploration programs and developed mining plans in near-zero strip ratio ore that is approximately 55% higher grade than what was utilised in this work program.
"This is a continuation of our work to de-risk the Halleck Creek project, which is free of the sovereign risks associated with projects identified in Latin American, SE Asia and Africa.
“Halleck Creek is stacking up to become a world-class project which has the strategic scale and potential to secure a stable, domestic supply of rare earths for the US for many decades.”
DMS enhances separation technologies
The preconcentrating test work for the project was performed under the leadership of Yongqin Jiao, Ph.D. and Dan Park, Ph.D. at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, along with consortium member Rick Honaker, Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky.
Dr Yongqin Jiao said: "Our protein-based rare earth separation technologies continue to be advanced and are greatly enhanced by this conventional beneficiation technique that will improve the economic viability. Removal of the gangue materials at the solid-state enhances the concentration of the rare earth elements, creating an optimal solution feed for downstream bio-separation.
“The recent findings by our collaborator Prof. Honaker at University of Kentucky, showcasing low-cost density separation coupled with magnetic separation of allanite, have a substantial impact on our overall process efficacy and economic feasibility. These findings contribute significantly to refining our approach and enhancing the efficiency of the rare earth element extraction process.”