Critica (ASX:CRI) has conducted initial metallurgical testwork which has achieved a rare earth upgrade of 830% on the Jupiter Project, which forms part of the Brothers Clay-Hosted Rare Earth Project in Western Australia.
The initial program focused on beneficiation techniques to upgrade the clay-hosted rare earth mineralisation at Jupiter.
Critica, which has a market capitalisation of $45 million, says this latest upgrade was achieved by subjecting a composite sample taken from Jupiter of representative mineralisation to a simple flotation process at room temperature to produce a beneficiated product grading 13,310 parts per million total rare earth oxide.
In conjunction, an overall reduction in mass of 94.5% was achieved with the concentrate being reduced to 5.5% of the original sample mass.
Managing Director Philippa Leggat says the company is building a strong foundation of robust, geological, and metallurgical data via rigorous technical work, targeting the establishment and de-risking of a development opportunity.
“The initial metallurgical testwork is deliberately focused on the ability to upgrade our already-impressive in-situ REE head grade to a first-pass beneficiated concentrate,” Leggat says.
“The impressive early results deliver a near ten-fold increase in grade through a simple flotation at ambient temperature. Combined with impressive unoptimised first-pass rare earth recoveries of over 50%, these results have hugely exceeded our initial beneficiation ambitions.
“While only the first process stage is under consideration, this places Critica in an excellent position to continue our comprehensive metallurgical programs. These programs are designed to construct a technically robust and economically efficient process pathway for this large-scale commercial and strategic REE opportunity.”
The company notes metallurgical testwork is ongoing, with further results expected over the coming months.
A maiden mineral resource estimate for Jupiter is also advancing, driven by SRK Consulting. The results are expected to be released in the coming weeks.
The Jupiter Project is strategically located within the Mt Magnet and Yalgoo mining precinct of Western Australia.
Critica is a mineral explorer focused primarily on critical minerals and rare earths that are vital to modern technology and the green energy transition.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Trailblazer
