Critica has revealed its flagship Jupiter project near Mt Magnet in Western Australia may just be the largest deposit of high-grade clay-hosted rare earths in Australia.
The company recently completed its maiden mineral resource estimate for the deposit, which was discovered in 2023 and is part of Critica’s larger Brothers rare earths project.
The overall resource was found to be 1.8 billion tonnes at 1700 parts per million (ppm) rare earths oxide. Jupiter’s high-grade resource stands at 500 million tonnes at 2200ppm.
Critica managing director Philippa Leggat said the discovery established Jupiter as the largest of its kind in Australia.
“It is incredibly exciting to be able to unveil Australia’s premier clay hosted rare earth deposit – the numbers speak for themselves, Leggat said.
“Our maiden resource represents a major milestone that we have, rather remarkably, delivered in just over a year from announcing the discovery in November 2023.
“The size and grade in the clay-hosted Jupiter deposit is unmatched in Australia, and globally significant.”
Jupiter is just one of six rare earths deposit discoveries found at Brothers to date.
“The development potential is boosted by its exceptional location in a well-established, West Australian mining district that benefits from robust existing infrastructure,” Leggat said.
“Moreover, the near-surface and highly consistent nature of the deposit affords us optionality when it comes to considering future processing and development scenarios.”
Leggat said Critica is already considering next steps for the project.
“Our initial metallurgy has demonstrated the potential to beneficiate our grade by 830 per cent while simultaneously reducing the overall mass by an extraordinary 95 per cent,” she said.
“We are well funded to continue advancing this testwork and drill test our satellite discoveries to assess the true potential of our provincial scale opportunity at the broader Brothers project.”
