American Rare Earths (ASX: ARR | OTCQB: ARRNF | FSE: 1BHA) has reported its latest results from a series of metallurgical tests from its Halleck Creek project in Wyoming.
With a JORC resource of 1.43Bt, the Halleck Creek project is potentially the largest rare earth project in the US. The metallurgy test work continues to pave the way for low-cost processing using conventional technology.
The latest test work supports previous results showing a simple process flow sheet to produce a rare earth concentrate and maximize the recovery of magnet metals neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr).
Bulk rougher/scavenger Wet High Intensity Magnetic Separation (WHIMS) produced 72% recovery and rejected 77% of feed mass, this is an upgrade ratio of 3.1.
Further testing will commence in the coming weeks to generate the final concentrate for refinery testing.
Additionally, current internal studies focus on annualized ore processing rates of 10, 15 and 20Mt/a feed rate to the concentrator to establish optimal project economics.
This equates to a modelled production of 3,800t, 5,700t and 7,600t, respectively of the highly valuable NdPr oxides contained in Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate (MREC) as a saleable product to be processed within the US.
Recent tests rejected 77% of waste material in the early processing stages prior to the flotation circuit, demonstrating potential opportunities to reduce the project’s operating and capital costs. This is a 5% improvement from preliminary test work results announced in December 2022.
CEO and managing director, Chris Gibbs, commented: “In short, Halleck Creek has the right rare earths (NdPr) and low penalty elements. This means a valuable product, simple metallurgy, and lower costs. Most importantly, the project is in the heart of the USA, the largest economy in the world.”
To find out more, please visit www.americanrareearths.com.au
