Victory Metals (ASX:VTM) will send heavy rare earth concentrate to a Curtin University pilot plant for conversion into mixed rare earth carbonate.
The company has signed a material transfer agreement to use the Cathode Precursor Production Pilot Plant (C4P), which represents about $18.4 million of processing infrastructure.
The facility was developed by Curtin University, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA) to support the battery and critical minerals processing industries.
Concentrate from the company’s Burswood pilot plant in Perth will move to C4P during 2026 and 2027, allowing large pilot-scale mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) production without building a standalone facility.
MREC samples will then return to Victory for technical assessment before being sent to international offtake and refining partners.
CEO Brendan Clark says the arrangement allows Victory to leverage existing infrastructure rather than building every stage of the processing pathway.
“We can leverage established Australian processing infrastructure and expertise rather than having to develop every stage of the downstream processing pathway independently,” Clark says.
The agreement follows China’s confirmation on 9 November that it will extend the suspension of certain additional rare earth export controls until 10 January 2027. Existing export licensing requirements remain in place.
Victory is advancing the North Stanmore Heavy Rare Earth Elements Project in Western Australia’s Cue region, where an August 2026 mineral resource estimate (MRE) totals 278.8 million tonnes.
The company says Western Australian MREC production is relevant to potential customers in the US, Europe, Japan, India, South Korea, Vietnam, and other markets seeking heavy rare earth supply.
Victory Metals is an Australian critical minerals explorer advancing heavy rare earth and gold projects across Western Australia.
Write to JC Villarba at Mining.com.au
Images: Victory Metals
