Aldoro Resources (ASX:ARN) has reported maiden metallurgical testwork at its Kameelburg Rare Earth and Strontium Project in Namibia has achieved 72% total rare earth element (REE) extraction alongside greater than 99% strontium recovery.
The Kameelburg Project covers the Cretaceous Kameelburg Carbonatite plug in northern Namibia’s Central Damara Orogenic Belt.
Testwork demonstrates Kameelburg ore can be directly leached without prior beneficiation, potentially simplifying processing compared to most global REE projects.
“These maiden metallurgical results represent a major de-risking milestone for Kameelburg and further reinforce the project’s emergence as one of the world’s most significant undeveloped rare earth and strontium systems,” Chairperson Quinn Li says.
The composite sample returned head grades of 1.28% total REE and 2.67% strontium, with cerium, lanthanum, and neodymium as the principal value drivers.
Single-pass extraction achieved approximately 69% rare earth recovery at 15% hydrochloric acid concentration, rising to 72% with cumulative leach and re-leach testing.
Strontium extraction exceeded 99% consistently across all acid leach tests, with calcium extraction above 94% in primary leach tests and cumulative recoveries exceeding 99% after re-leach stages.
Li says the exceptional strontium recovery highlights Kameelburg’s ‘multi-product nature’.
The project hosts the world’s largest reported strontium resource alongside globally significant rare earth and niobium inventories totalling more than 596 million tonnes.
The company has identified clear pathways to improve recovery rates, including elevated temperature leaching, mineralogical characterisation using QEMSCAN analysis, finer grinding, and pre-concentration testwork through flotation and gravity methods.
Aldoro Resources plans a next-phase metallurgical program to optimise extraction parameters, evaluate pre-concentration options, and define a process flowsheet suitable for scoping-level economic studies.
Write to JC Villarba at Mining.com.au
Images: Unsplash
