MTM Critical Metals (ASX:MTM) has removed 48% of impurities including aluminium, calcium, iron, and phosphorus, using its Flash Joule Heating technology for rare earths flotation concentrate testing.
This single step of removing impurities leads to a 50% increase in rare earths concentration in the final product — representing a “major” breakthrough for rare earth processing, delivering efficiency gains with further optimisation work ongoing.
MTM, which has a market capitalisation of $25.4 million, says the testing used Flash Joule Heating (FJH) technology in a dual-step chlorination and carbochlorination process to treat rare earth flotation concentrate accompanied by a water wash, where the primary rare earths mineral is monazite.
The company adds the feedstock consisted of a dried floatation concentrate with 31% total rare earth oxide content.
The FJH technology process offers a transformative alternative to traditional cracking and leaching methods, as it aims to create purified rare earth chlorides in a single operation.
As a result, this offers substantial environmental and economic advantages, including water savings, energy efficiency, lower capex, and cleaner byproducts.
CEO Michael Walshe says this latest result confirms the potential of Flash Joule Heating in simplifying and improving rare earth processing.
“Achieving such high impurity removal and rare earth concentration in a single step is a game changer and we are only at the beginning of this testing regime,” Walshe says.
“We are continuing discussions with leading industry players to advance this technology towards commercial-scale deployment.
“Furthermore, there is a substantial near-term opportunity to re-establish onshore rare earth refining capacity in the US, particularly in light of policy shifts and incentives introduced by the newly announced Trump administration.”
The current design phase of this project represents an engineering milestone by transitioning from batch to continuous operations. MTM says this advancement enhances scalability, efficiency, and reliability.
In collaboration with its engineering partner KnightHawk, MTM has achieved a 2,000-fold scale-up from the original laboratory process to the current prototype, closely aligning with parameters required for commercial-scale applications.
Further, the company is pursuing additional grant funding from the US Department of Defence and Department of Energy to drive innovation in critical metals recovery and supply within the US.
The company’s work aligns with the US’ national priorities to secure sustainable supplies of heavy rare earths and related materials.
MTM Critical Metals, headquartered in Perth, has a dual focus on metal recovery technology development and mineral exploration.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: MTM
