Victory Metals (ASX:VTM) has flagged its potential to ‘reshape global rare earth ethical supply chains,’ after producing mixed rare earth oxide from its North Stanmore Heavy Rare Earth Project in Western Australia.
The MREO contains 94% total rare earth oxide, which totals 940,000 parts per million (ppm), and represents the “highest grade heavy rare earth enriched MREO produced from an Australian clay-hosted project”.
MREOs are an advanced intermediate product in the rare earth value chain. For clay-hosted deposits, they are typically produced following leaching, purification, and precipitation processes.
Victory, which has a market capitalisation of $136.95 million, says this result also demonstrates the technical ability of its proprietary processing flowsheet.
Additionally, the result also shows the company’s ability to produce market-ready, high-value MREO products without the need for additional capital expenditure concentration and cracking processes.
CEO Brendan Clark says this result came from a large representative composite of 453 samples taken across the project area that average 525ppm TREO.
“This shows the samples were not ‘cherry picked’ and highlights the true commercial value of the North Stanmore deposit,” Clark says.
“Victory is now sitting at the most advanced downstream processing point, prior to rare earth separation and metallisation. This milestone was successfully achieved at the ALS laboratory in Western Australia, in conjunction with Victory’s own technical team.
“This result enhances our strategic positioning in a tightening global market that has already attracted elevated offtake interest, which we anticipate will only grow further now we have successfully demonstrated this significant outcome.”
Further metallurgical work on the North Stanmore Project is in progress, targeting a recently identified zirconium-bearing secondary mineral in the leach residue to recover high-value hafnium, as well as additional scandium and other heavy rare earths.
According to the International Energy Agency, the top three rare earths producers in 2030 are forecast to be China (51%), Australia (13%), and Myanmar (11%).
The demand for rare earth minerals is driven by the growing demand for permanent magnets, particularly from electric vehicles and wind power. The IEA reports that rare earths appear to be sufficiently supplied in 2035 based on the project pipeline. However, the supply concentration for rare earths and graphite remains a key vulnerability.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Mining.com.au & Victory Metals
