ASX-listed company Ionic Rare Earths (ASX:IXR) reports its subsidiary Ionic Technologies International (IonicTech) has begun commissioning its magnet recycling demonstration plant located in Belfast, UK.
IonicTech, which was acquired in H1 2022, has developed rare earth element (REE) separation and refining technology which it has applied to the recycling of spent permanent neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets.
The process uses a hydrometallurgical process to extract the REEs, then separate the individual magnet REEs within including neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium to refine into a high purity individual magnet rare earths oxide (REO).
In September 2022, IonicTech was awarded a grant of GBP£1.72 million from the UK Government’s Innovate UK Automotive Transformation Fund Scale-up Readiness Validation (SuRV) program to develop a demonstration scale magnet recycling plant to secure a supply of critical rare earth metals for electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing in the UK.
Ionic reports the demonstration plant represents a scale-up of the pilot plant campaigns completed to date and will provide further data for the development of a commercial facility.
During Q1 2023, most of the demonstration plant equipment was received to the Belfast facility, which is being installed and hydrostatic testing of vessels has now begun. The company says commissioning is progressing to schedule and notes process commissioning will begin throughout April.
Commenting on the progress, Ionic Rare Earths Managing Director, Tim Harrison says: “The progress in Belfast has been substantial over the past few months since my last visit in November. With equipment now delivered and installed, with commissioning now underway, we are confident that full commissioning will be completed on time, and I expect to see production of REOs this quarter.
“The successful commissioning of the Magnet Recycling Demonstration Plant at our Belfast facility will be a key catalyst for the company…”
The successful commissioning of the Magnet Recycling Demonstration Plant at our Belfast facility will be a key catalyst for the company in being able to establish meaningful supply chain partnerships in value addition for the magnet REOs we will produce in Belfast. Our engagement with metal and alloy manufacturers is progressing, and we expect to be able to deliver inventory of separated magnet REOs for further value addition in the third quarter of this year.
With the momentum the company is seeing for an alternative supply of magnet REOs and the recent European Critical Raw Material Act, and the intent to source 15% of these newly named Strategic Raw Materials, we continue to field new enquiries on the technology. The potential to rapidly deploy the modular technology is appealing to western markets looking to develop domestic, secure, and sustainable supply chains from secondary sources through recycling.”
Ionic reports the variable magnet TREE content within the feedstock materials will provide IonicTech with a solid foundation to demonstrate the technology’s attributes.
The company says unlike many other recycling technologies, its magnetic recycling process is agnostic on magnet quality, can process oxidised magnets, and can manage coatings and films to produce individually separated and refined high purity REOs, which is providing ‘significant’ interest to potential downstream users.
Ionic Rare Earths is an ASX-listed company focused on developing its flagship Makuutu Rare Earths Project in Uganda into production. The Makuutu Project hosts a total mineral resource of 78.6 million tonnes @ 840 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxides (TREO), and 610ppm TREO with no cerium oxide.
Along with its Makuutu Project, the company is also developing a magnet recycling demonstration plant in Belfast, UK.
Images: Ionic Rare Earths Ltd
