Axel REE (ASX:AXL) reports column leach testing has confirmed that rare earth elements (REEs) can be recovered from its Woolrich deposit using in situ recovery (ISR) methods.
The company’s first column leach test recovered 560 parts per million (ppm) soluble total rare earth oxides (TREO) using a mild magnesium sulphate solution, exceeding the best previous diagnostic result by 14%.
The test maintained 39% magnet rare earth oxides (MREO), including dysprosium and terbium, while keeping impurities at low levels.
A second column test operated at lower reagent strength and recovered 494 ppm TREO with 37% MREO.
Managing Director Patience Mpofu says these results are an “important step forward” for Axel.
“The column program shows that Woolrich behaves as a genuine ionic clay system under realistic flow conditions,” Mpofu says.
“Just as importantly, the work is now generating the operating data we need to design ISR field exploratory tests at Woolrich.”
The metallurgical testwork, conducted by Core Resources, validates Axel’s development pathway for the 128 megatonne (Mt) @ 1,013 ppm TREO Woolrich deposit within the broader Caladão REE Project in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
The Caladão project hosts a combined inferred mineral resource estimate of 572Mt @ 1,506 ppm soluble TREO across areas A and B, plus an inferred gallium resource of 439Mt @ 38 ppm gallium.
Axel says its column testing program will continue with a second pair of columns once initial performance data has been reviewed and incorporated into next-stage test design.
The column tests generate the hydraulic, kinetic, and solution-chemistry data needed to design field exploratory test programs at Woolrich, which Axel plans to commence in the December quarter of 2026.
Axel REE is a critical minerals explorer and developer focused on its ionic clay-hosted rare earths and gallium portfolio in Brazil.
Write to Paula Fabe at Mining.com.au
Images: Axel Ree
