Aclara Resources (TSX:ARA) has been selected by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to receive federal funding for an AI-driven heavy rare earth processing project.
The company’s US subsidiary, Aclara Technologies, was chosen under the DOE’s Genesis Mission initiative.
Aclara’s phase one project, titled ‘AI-Enabled Process Optimisation for Multi-Feed Rare Earth Separation’, falls under Challenge Area — Securing America’s Critical Minerals Supply through Extraction and Processing Technologies.
Funding terms and timing remain subject to award negotiations.
CEO Ramon Barua says the selection validates the company’s vision of combining advanced process engineering with AI to strengthen critical minerals supply chains.
“The project will help accelerate the development of next-generation operating tools for heavy rare earth separation while reinforcing our broader strategy of building a secure, resilient, and technologically advanced rare earth supply chain across the Americas,” Barua says.
The project aims to develop and validate an AI-assisted digital twin capable of optimising complex rare earth solvent extraction circuits. The technology will leverage operational data from Aclara’s pilot plant at Virginia Tech, combined with advanced process simulation capabilities developed by Argonne National Laboratory.
Aclara says the platform aims to improve process stability, increase recovery and product purity, reduce operator intervention, and accelerate the scale-up of domestic rare earth separation technologies.
Aclara Resources is a development-stage mineral resource developer focused on its rare earths projects in Brazil and Chile, which use its patented Circular Mineral Harvesting technology.
Write to Paula Fabe at Mining.com.au
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