Critica’s (ASX:CRI) wholly owned Jupiter Project in Western Australia is the country’s ‘largest and highest-grade’ clay-hosted magnetic rare earth oxides (MREO) resource from its MREO cut-offs, following a review of the company’s resource.
The project hosts a resource of 640 million tonnes at 490 parts per million (ppm) MREO with a cut-off of 400ppm, as well as a 2,100ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO) within the greater 1.8 billion tonnes global resource.
Critica, which has a market capitalisation of $40.47 million, is now streamlining a focused development approach by including MREO review results into technical and commercial work for Jupiter, which will prioritise rare earths based on user demand.
Upcoming metallurgical testwork will test the potential for the project to produce mixed rare earth carbonate, with bulk sampling and a resource update to support this program.
A pilot program under scaled operations intends to validate beneficiation and leach performance before progressing to a Scoping Study.
CEO Jacob Deysel says while Jupiter’s resource has always been “compelling”, this update confirms the project’s significance in the neodymium, praseodymium, terbium, and dysprosium space.
“This is a turning point in the Jupiter story. This makes Jupiter Australia’s largest and highest-grade clay-hosted rare earth deposit by both total tonnage and contained MREOs,” Deysel says.
“What sets Critica apart is our approach. We are applying a smarter, more targeted strategy, starting with a beneficiation stage that has upgraded high-value REEs into a small-volume stream while rejecting ~95% of the mined mineralised mass.
“This isn’t just good for economics – it’s the right way to build a modern rare earths business: scalable, responsible, and strategically aligned. Jupiter has the potential to become a cornerstone of Australia’s rare earth supply chain, and we are shaping it for that role from day one.”
Critica is focused on developing its Jupiter Project to meet the global demand for minerals needed in modern technology and for the green energy transition.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Critica
