Aclara Resources (TSX:ARA) has announced that its US subsidiary, Aclara Technologies, has been selected to receive funding from the US Department of Energy (DOE) under the DOE’s Genesis Mission: Transforming Science and Energy with AI initiative.
Aclara’s phase one project, ‘AI-Enabled Process Optimisation for Multi-Feed Rare Earth Separation’, falls under the part of the mission focused on securing the US’s critical minerals supply through extraction and processing technologies.
The project will use AI to optimise the multi-feed separation of rare earth elements with improved efficiencies, product quality, and operational stability. Aclara is focused on bringing these rare earth processing technologies into commercial use.
CEO Ramón Barúa says the recognition by the US DOE is an important milestone for the company, validating its technologies, which will help to strengthen critical mineral supply chains.
“The project will help accelerate the development of next-generation operating tools for heavy rare earth separation while reinforcing our broader strategy of building a secure, resilient, and technologically advanced rare earth supply chain across the Americas,” Barúa says.
Aclara’s proprietary technology will use an AI-assisted digital twin that can optimise complex rare earth solvent extraction circuits under dynamic operating conditions. The project will leverage data generated from the company’s rare earth separation plant at Virginia Tech, together with process simulations developed by Argonne National Laboratory.
The US DOE’s Genesis Mission is building an integrated science discovery platform, bringing together government, industry, and academia to accelerate breakthroughs in energy, science, and national security with advanced AI and other technologies.
Aclara Resources is focused on building a vertically integrated supply chain for rare earth alloys used in permanent magnets.
Write to Amy Rotman at Mining.com.au
Images: Aclara Resources
